Andorran Olympic Committee Celebrates 50 Years of IOC Membership

The Andorran Olympic Committee (COA) marks 50 years since its full admission to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 14 May 1975, during an assembly in Rome. Since then, Andorra has competed in every Summer and Winter Olympics over the past half-century.

The COA traces its origins to the Andorran Ski Club in the mid-1960s. Club leaders, observing Andorran skiers like Lluís Molné, Francesc Viladomat, and Lluís Viu compete in prior Winter Games under foreign flags, pushed for a national body. The General Council approved the committee's statutes in April 1971, but sustained operations began in 1974.

IOC rules required at least five national federations, a hurdle Andorra overcame by establishing new ones. The initial board represented skiing, basketball, cycling, and shooting—only the latter fully structured as a federation. Members took on leadership roles in others, including bobsleigh, which submitted its international paperwork by late 1974. This completed the quintet: skiing, biathlon, luge, bobsleigh, and shooting.

Josep Areny Fité, an early board member, credits Juan Antonio Samaranch, then head of the Spanish Olympic Committee, for crucial guidance in the IOC application. Admission came alongside that of the People's Republic of China.

Initial resistance arose from Andorra's co-princes, who viewed the move as encroaching on their sole international representation role. The COA's debut abroad was a 1975 meeting of European Olympic committees in Lisbon.

The following year brought breakthroughs: five alpine skiers at the Innsbruck Winter Games and a trio—a boxer and two shooters—at Montreal's Summer Olympics, where the Andorran flag paraded for the first time. "It was fantastic to see the Andorran flag in the parade," Areny recalled.

Andorra has since hosted three editions of the Small States of Europe Games, an event it helped initiate. Though no longer involved since 1991, Areny expressed pride in the legacy. "I wouldn't change anything we did or what's been done since," he said. "Despite the challenges, it's a source of pride to see Andorra's flag parading around the world every so often."