In which country does the BER participate in the Olympic Games? IOC country codes used at Tokyo 2020

By Jordan J. Cook Last updated Sep 24, 2021

The letters BER stand for Bermuda, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The British Overseas Territory won its first ever Olympic gold medal with Flora Duffy of Bermuda winning the women’s triathlon on Tuesday.

Duffy took the lead in the running portion of the triathlon, which included a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride, followed by a 10-kilometer run, according to the Tokyo 2020 website.

The four-lap run of the final race saw Duffy win with a time of 1: 55.36, one minute and 14 seconds ahead of Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown, the 2020 world champion who won the medal of money.

The BER is one of the country and territory codes designated for the 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) recognized by the IOC.

Among the other recognized NOCs is the ROC, which stands for Russian Olympic Committee. Russia has been banned from major sporting events since 2019 due to a doping scandal. The country is under a two-year suspension for major and repeated doping offenses.

The ROC allows Russian athletes to participate in Tokyo 2020 even if they are unable to represent Russia.

Russian athletes who can prove they were unrelated to the doping scandal and remained sober have been allowed to compete in this year’s Olympics under a ROC flag.

The IOC is the only authority which can recognize an NOC. The IOC website says: “Along with the International Sports Federations, the NOCs are a building block of the Olympic Movement under the leadership of the IOC.

“The mission of the NOCs is to develop, promote and protect the Olympic Movement in their respective countries, in accordance with the Olympic Charter”, explains the website.