It’s an old story in European sport: the idea of fielding an EU team at the Olympic Games.

On the one hand, this “Team Europe” would win the medals ahead of the United States and China, and on the other, it would help to reinforce a European feeling among the Member States and their citizens.

However as things stand, this option seems unthinkable under the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The body that runs the Games refuses to allow flags other than those of the National Olympic Committees to be shown during the event.

“For example in Tokyo in 2021, where the Slovenian representative asked to have the Slovenian delegation march with a European flag because they were holding the presidency of the European Union at the time this was refused by the IOC”, Carole Gomez, a graduate assistant in sociology at the University of Lausanne said.

The athletes could, however, display the blue flag with the twelve stars. Italian fencer Elisa Di Francisca waved a European flag when she received her silver medal in Rio in 2016.

The gesture was praised at the time by the head of European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, and the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

The President of the European Commission in 2004, Romano Prodi, had already asked the athletes of the Member States to fly the EU banner, but without success.

Sport and identity

Sport has an important role to play in the development of national identities, since it showcases a state, a flag and an anthem, and arouses enthusiasm.

However,”the official history of the European Union and sport is relatively recent”, explains Carole Gomez. “Since 2009, and in particular the Treaty of Lisbon, there has been a formalisation of this interest in sport, which has become a focus of work”.

The European Union has been developing sports diplomacy for around ten years, often focusing on organising competitions between different players or the development of sport as part of Erasmus +.

Beyond this initiative, Carole Gomez believes that setting up a joint team is not in the interests of the 27 member states.

“Having a European team would mean having to make selections and disqualifications among all the top European athletes. And so, for example, instead of having a podium with a Greek, a Spaniard and a Slovenian, we would in reality have just one representative of the European Union”, she explains.

She prefers the idea of calculating the total number of medals won by the EU and discussing other ways of consolidating this common European identity.

“As part of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, Emmanuel Macron asked for the French flag and the European flag to be displayed side by side as the host country,” explains Carole Gomez.

This request was accepted by the IOC. “In the Olympic Village or at the competition venues, this double flag can be displayed. And that seems to me to be something that would also be interesting in terms of length”, she continues.

The Summer Olympics 2024 opened in Paris in July and will run until the 11th August.