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Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee

NAOC

Last modified: 2023-06-03 by zachary harden
Keywords: netherlands antilles | caribbean | olympic | international organizations | sports | organizations |
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Overview

The Netherlands Antilles will continue to exist not as a country but as a (sports) region in the Caribbean. Please visit: http://www.naoc.info/new-status/
"New status:
NAOC was founded in the year 1931 and as such is one of the oldest Olympic Committee of the Caribbean region. On a political level it was decided in 2005 that the country Netherlands Antilles will seize to exist within a couple of years. Together with the Antillean Minister of Sports, as well as all five insular commissioners of sports the goal was unanimously set (29th of October 2006) to maintain NAOC and its members as umbrella sport organizations. This was approved by the International Olympic Committee (28th of June 2007) and ratified during the General Assembly of NAOC on the 5th of July 2007. The name Netherlands Antilles will no longer refer to a country, but to a region in the Caribbean. NAOC will keep its status as highest sport's governing body for all five islands. The support towards the federations, the islands and all athletes will be intensified in the near future."
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 4 January 2011

On Jan. 13 this year, the Executive Board of the IOC agreed to allow athletes from former Netherlands Antilles to compete under the Olympic Flags as independent athletes, just like those from East Timor in Sydney 2000, Yugoslavia in Barcelona 1992. Other sources declare that even the IAAF has withdrawn recognition to the former Netherlands territory, then the athletes are to compete under the Dutch flag.
Sources: http://www.rnw.nl/caribiana/article/atleten-tot-2012-onder-olympische-vlag
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110113/ap_on_sp_ol/oly_ioc_meetings
http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/story/?id=349231
http://insidethegames.biz/summer-olympics/2012/11628-ghana-and-netherlands-antilles-set-to-miss-london-2012
http://www.thedailyherald.com/sports/local-sports/12395-netherlands-antilles-loses-olympic-charter.html
http://www.thestate.com/2011/01/13/1644125/ap-sources-ioc-suspends-ghanas.html
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 25 January 2011

Football world governing body FIFA in its official website has replaced the page "Netherlands Antilles" for that of "Curaçao" In the link "Associations" of the same site in English, the name "Netherlands Antilles" used to appear between "Netherlands" and "New Caledonia"; right now it appears no more. Insted, the name "Curaçao" has been placed between "Cuba" and "Cyprus".
A month ago, the International Olympic Committee ruled that all athletes from the former Netherlands Antilles would participate in the 2011 Pan American Games and 2012 Olympic Games under the Olympic Flag as independent Athletes; after that all of them shall compete under the Dutch flag. At the same time IAAF (World Athletics Federation) witdrew its recognition towards the non-existent Netherlands Antilles stating that Athletes from the former territory shall compete for the Netherlands from now on.
Though lacking of official statements, it seems that FIFA decided to keep recognition to Curaçao as the legal successor of the Netherlands Antilles.
The flag shown for Curaçao in the FIFA site is this one, the code in use is: CUW (the same used by ISO-3166)
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 6 March 2011

Though I would not normally report that an entity does not have a flag, in this case I make an exception because quite a few of us would have expected otherwise.
The Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee were the Olympic Committee of the Netherlands Antilles. The NAOC does have an Olympic Emblem, and we tend to equate that with having a flag. The NAOC has informed me though, that while they have used the NAOC emblem on their merchandising, they have never used it as a flag. In fact, the only flag the NAOC used has always been the national flag, which for most of the time the IOC recognised it (1950-2011) have been the subsequent flags of the Netherlands Antilles (1954-1986-2010).
The organisation has been quite pleasant to correspond with and they've been quick to answer my queries, which was a welcome difference from the struggle I usual experience. They were even kind enough to point out that the NAOC has in fact lost IOC recognition, and that London 2012 will be the last time its athletes will be allowed to compete as a team, be it under the Olympic Flag. They consider it likely that after that, their athletes will have to compete under the Dutch flag.
[I fear they may be right, but I still have some hope that this case will wake the IOC up and will make them look at the positions of regions that are one or two oceans away from their seat of sovereign government. Some form of Regional OC under the umbrella of either the NOC or the Continental Associations would seem to make more sense than practically disallowing certain athletes to take part among their equals.]
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 19 April 2012

That sounds strange to me. One would expect that at least Curaçao and Sint Maarten would be recognized separately, considering that they have not integrated into the Netherlands like the other three islands and might somehow be considered the successors of the Netherlands Antilles, in Olympic affairs at least. After all, Aruba was recognized after having broken away from the Netherlands Antilles, was it? And the status of Curaçao and Sint Maarten is now the same as that of Aruba, is it?
Tomislav Todorović, 19 April 2012

It's not their status that is different. It's the rules of the IOC that are different. Under the current rules, Existing NOC-s stay in existence as long as their entity remains in existence, but if Aruba would dissolve its NOC and create a new one, they would not be considered independent enough to have their own NOC either.
And yes, it is strange. Mind you, there are dependencies whose athletes are not allowed to go to the Olympics at all. Maybe the Kingdom of the Netherlands would at least be able to find a way to organise an auxiliary NOC bureau somewhere transatlantic. But still strange, yes.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 19 April 2012


Curaçao-Sint Maarten Olympisch Comité

[Curaçao-Sint Maarten Olympisch Comité fictional flag]
image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 19 April 2012

There's no status for this flag.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg
, 19 April 2012