What Country at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics Is Abbreviated SUI?

Toni Sutton - Author
By

Published Aug. 5 2021, 2:57 p.m. ET

Swimmer Jeremy Desplanches at the Summer 2020 Olympics.
Source: Instagram

If you've been tuning into the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, you have seen the abbreviations of the competing countries on the screen and, at times, on the athletes' uniforms. During the games, you've most likely has seen abbreviations like USA, CAN, GBR, and JPN, which are pretty obviously the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Japan.

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For the most part, country abbreviations are easy to guess, but some are downright confusing, like ROC, for instance, which isn't even an abbreviation for an actual country. Instead, ROC stands for the Russian Olympic Committee. That's the name under which Russian athletes now compete after the country was banned from competition due to widespread doping.

Another one that's not easy to figure out is SUI.

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NBC reported that during women's beach volleyball, when the United States team (comprised of Alix Klineman and April Ross) was playing SUI in the semi-finals, fans were googling to find out what country that was. Did you know that SUI is the abbreviation for the country Switzerland? Weird right? Keep reading to find out why Switzerland is SUI.

Why is Switzerland's abbreviation SUI?

Many would think that the country's abbreviation would be SWI and not SUI. The reason behind the SUI abbreviation has to do with the French language. The International Olympic Committee is actually based in Switzerland, and their official language is French. According to Fansided, the translation of the Swiss Federation in French is Fédération Suisse.

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So, the abbreviation SUI is short for Suisse. Those three letters can also be seen on the swimming caps worn by the Swiss and on the track and field uniforms. Interestingly Switzerland's abbreviation SUI is not just in the Olympics. The Union of European Football Associations uses SUI as well.

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Like Switzerland, a few other countries at the Olympics aren't abbreviated according to the first three letters of their country's English name. Spain is ESP, Iran is IRO ((Islamic Republic of Iran), and the Ivory Coast is CIV (Côte d'Ivoire), to name a new.

Switzerland won its 200th medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Swimmer Jérémy Desplanches broke his Swiss record to reach the podium at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on July 30. He won the bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley, beating out Japan's Daiya Seto by only 0.05 seconds. His medal is historic for two reasons. First, it was Switzerland's 200th medal in the history of the Summer Olympic Games.

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Secondly, it is only the second medal that a Swiss swimmer has even won. The other Olympic medal for swimming was won by Etienne Dagon, who won the bronze in 1984 in the 200m breaststroke.

Congratulations to Jérémy and all of the other athletes who medaled at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

The closing ceremonies for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be held on August 8.

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