Rhodesia in 2008 olympics?

Question

I noticed in the list of countries participating in the olympics, on all site I looked at, rhodesia was in the list and so was zimbabwe. However rhodesia no longer exists... so how can they take part? Can somebody confirm this please..

Answer 1

Republic of Rhodesia declared itself as an independent nation in 1965 but it didn't gained international recognition due to the issuance of Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom. It ceased as a nation in 1979 and returned as a British colony. Then on April, 1980, it gained its' independence from British government and changed its name to Zimbabwe.

so technically, Rhodesia no longer exists and IOC only recognized Zimbabwe and during 2008 Olympics, only swimmer Kristy Coventry won medals (4 medals) for this country.