ANOC — Association of National Olympic Committees

What is ANOC?

The Association of National Olympic Committees is the worldwide association of every National Olympic Committee recognised by the IOC — 206 of them.^[2] Its constitution is blunt about membership: "every NOC recognised by the IOC is a Member of the Association, subject to this Constitution".^[6] There is no separate admission process and no opting out.

Its stated objects are to "serve, promote and protect the common and collective interests of the NOCs" and to collaborate with the IOC to advance the goal of the Olympic Movement.^[6] It is, in other words, the collective voice of the NOCs facing the IOC, rather than a body above them.

The five continental associations — ANOCA, the EOC, the OCA, ONOC and Panam Sports — are also members, and are named as such in the constitution's definitions.^[2] [6] ANOC is where NOC-level questions, including suspensions and neutral-athlete arrangements, surface in public.^[4]

What does ANOC govern or do?

ANOC's supreme organ is its General Assembly, which under Rule 12.20 of the constitution elects the leadership, disciplines members, approves financial statements, amends the constitution and may dissolve the association.^[6] Continental associations hold membership without voting rights at the General Assembly; the votes belong to the NOCs.^[6]

Around the assembly sits a programme of service functions: financial support to NOCs ahead of Olympic Games, the ANOC Awards, digital communications seminars, and commissions covering the working areas of the NOCs.^[4] [2] Day-to-day management rests with the Secretary General, Gunilla Lindberg, in consultation with the President.^[2]

ANOC does not select athletes, does not recognise NOCs — that is the IOC's function under Rule 3.2 of the Olympic Charter — and does not run a qualification system.^[7] A record citing ANOC is citing membership or an assembly decision, not a competition result, with the single exception of the World Beach Games.

When was ANOC founded and where is it based?

ANOC records a general assembly of NOCs in Rome from 30 September to 2 October 1965 as a precursor, and its own constitutive assembly in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in June 1979, where the first constitution was adopted.^[1] [6] Founding and constitution are therefore the same event; there is no separate rename in the record.

The headquarters moved. ANOC states it was in Paris from 1982 to 2010 and in Lausanne from May 2010, with a purpose-built headquarters inaugurated there in June 2015.^[1] Rule 2.1 of the constitution fixes the seat: "the headquarters of the Association shall be in Lausanne, Switzerland and may be transferred to another location by decision of the Executive Council".^[6]

Three presidencies are on record: Mario Vazquez Rana from 1979, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah from April 2012, and Robin Mitchell, who became acting head after Sheikh Ahmad stepped aside in November 2018 and was elected president at the 2022 General Assembly in Seoul.^[1] [3] The constitution as published was adopted on 15 June 2013 and last amended at the XXVI General Assembly in Seoul on 22 October 2022;^[6] ANOC's own constitution web page still describes the Crete assembly of October 2021 as the most recent amendment.^[8]

How is ANOC recognised?

Rule 3.2 of the Olympic Charter provides that the IOC "may also recognise associations of NOCs formed at continental or world level", that all such associations "shall have, where possible, the status of legal persons", that "they must comply with the Olympic Charter", and that "their statutes are subject to the approval of the IOC".^[7] ANOC is the association formed at world level, and appears in the Charter's table of abbreviations as "Association of National Olympic Committees".^[7]

Rule 3.4 adds that recognition of an association "does not in any way affect the right of each IF and of each NOC to deal directly with the IOC, and vice-versa" — the provision that keeps ANOC from standing between an NOC and the IOC.^[7] Withdrawal of recognition from an association of NOCs is a matter for the IOC Session in the case of full recognition, and the Executive Board for provisional recognition.^[7]

ANOC's own constitution frames the same relationship as collaboration with the IOC to advance the goal of the Olympic Movement in accordance with the Olympic Charter.^[6]

What does ANOC organise?

The General Assembly is its central event. The XXVIII edition is scheduled for Hong Kong, China from 7 to 10 December 2026 and is elective: the NOCs will choose the leadership for 2027-2030, and the ANOC Awards honouring athletes and NOCs from the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics close the meeting.^[4]

The ANOC World Beach Games is its one multi-sport property, and it has been dormant since 2019. One edition has been held, in Qatar in 2019. The second, awarded to Bali for August 2023, was cancelled in July 2023 after Indonesia's NOC withdrew citing budget constraints and sponsor withdrawals, with the late notice making a replacement host impossible.^[5] As of 12 September 2026 ANOC's own World Beach Games pages announce no future host and carry a generic bidding section; this page states the dormancy on that basis.^[9]

ANOC does not own the Olympic Games, the Youth Olympic Games or any continental Games; those belong to the IOC and the continental associations respectively.^[7]

Who are its members?

All 206 IOC-recognised National Olympic Committees are members, from the largest to the smallest, together with the five continental associations: ANOCA for Africa, the EOC for Europe, the OCA for Asia, ONOC for Oceania and Panam Sports for the Americas.^[2] [6]

The Executive Council reflects that structure: a president, five vice-presidents with one per continent including a senior vice-president, regional representatives (three each from ANOCA, the OCA, the EOC and Panam Sports, two from ONOC), five further appointed members for diversity and skills, a non-voting Secretary General and commission chairs.^[2]

Because membership follows IOC recognition automatically, ANOC has no power to admit or expel independently of the IOC's decision on the underlying committee — the point at which a national suspension becomes visible across the whole system.^[6] [7] Rule 3.4 of the Olympic Charter keeps the association's recognition from displacing the direct relationship: it "does not in any way affect the right of each IF and of each NOC to deal directly with the IOC, and vice-versa".^[7]

The size range inside the membership is the widest in the multi-sport world, running from the largest national delegations to committees that send a handful of athletes to a Games, and it is the reason ANOC's programmes are weighted towards financial support for the smallest members.^[2]