Anyone know the history of the combined country teams in the All Time medal list?

Question

http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/beijing-2008/medal-tally/

Here is an all time list

Answer 1

That list isn't really fair because some nations are new or have been participating in the Olympics only recently (like most of the former Soviet Union and China).

Answer 2

U.S. won a lot in 1984 simply because the Soviet Union didn't participate.

Answer 3

The guy is not asking if the list is fair or not. He is asking the history of the combined teams...

To actually answer your question, the former USSR republics competed together as the "Unified Team" in 1992.

Also, in the early Olympics there were combined teams, such as Australia/New Zealand in 1908 and 1912, as well as a few others. The pairs in tennis were most times made of players from different nationalities, so medals won by these kind of teams went into the record books as medals for the "Mixed team"

Combined country teams are no longer admitted. All members of a team must represent the same National Olympic Committee.

Answer 4

You realize that some countries have competed at far more games then a lot of other countries right?  Also, the Soviet Union no longer exists.  If you are going to do an all-time tally, do it by medals per olympics, I think that would be far more accurate.

Answer 5

Good list, thanks.  People saying the list isn't 'fair' what are you on about?  It's just a list, how can it be fair or unfair?

Answer 6

It's just a list, it's fair so disregard the crybabies.