The International Olympic Committee asserts “the sole authority” to recognize a National Olympic Committee, whose mission is to “develop, promote and protect the Olympic Movement in their respective countries.” That means that territories like American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the British Virgin Islands all have NOCs that let them stand at the same level in the Olympics as the countries overseeing them, in this case the U.S. or the U.K. --snip--

This year, 29 athletes will march under a banner not entirely their own (the Olympic flag itself) as members of the Refugee Olympic Team, a concept pioneered in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 to give an opportunity to those fleeing repression and hardship. Among them is Yusra Mardini, who along with her sister and two others swam and dragged an overloaded, immobilized boat of fellow Syrian refugees for three hours during their treacherous journey from Turkey to Greece.

Russian competitors are left somewhat stateless after a record of incessant doping got the country banned from these games. Instead, athletes had to apply to compete through an unaffiliated group under the moniker ROC (for Russian Olympic Committee), using a logo derived from the national and Olympic flags.

Then there’s Taiwan. Currently at the nexus of tensions between the U.S. and China, 68 competitors will again compete for an entity called Chinese Taipei with a flag designed solely for the purpose. Pressure from Beijing means that few dare to designate the delegation otherwise, despite Taiwan’s separate, democratic political system. For Taiwanese, the upside is the ability to turn up at all — a situation not afforded to it at the U.N. or its agencies, such as the World Health Organization.