What are Universality Places and who can obtain one?

Universality Places are a lifeline to athletes from underrepresented National Olympic Committees. They are designed to increase the diversity of participating nations across the sports programme of the Olympic Games.

While some nations may qualify dozens, or even hundreds, of athletes for the Olympic Games, others are left with very few athletes once qualification is complete in each sport.

Universality Places are available in the qualification systems of select sports for nations with traditionally small delegations.

These quotas are allocated to eligible National Olympic Committees by the Olympic Games Tripartite Commission. The Commission is made up of representatives from the International Olympic Committee, Association of National Olympic Committees and Association of Summer Olympic International Federations.

How do National Olympic Committees obtain Universality Places?

National Olympic Committees who participated with an average of eight athletes or less in individual sports at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 are eligible for Universality Places.

They can request athlete quotas in specific sports from the Commission. However, International Sports Federations may set specific technical criteria that athletes need to satisfy in order to be eligible for a quota.

The Commission then analyses all of the requests it receives, and considers criteria such as universal representation, athlete eligibility and technical level, balance between continents and genders, and the preference of International Sports Federations and National Olympic Committees.

At the conclusion of qualification in each sport with Universality Places available, the Commission allocates the available quotas to the selected National Olympic Committees.

Sports with dedicated Universality Places

• Aquatics*
• Archery
• Athletics*
• Badminton
• Boxing
• Breaking
• Canoe (Sprint and/or Slalom)
• Cycling (BMX Racing and Mountain Bike)
• Equestrian***
• Fencing
• Golf**
• Gymnastics (Artistic, Ryhthmic and Trampoline)
• Judo
• Modern Pentathlon
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Skateboarding (Park and Street)
• Sport Climbing (Boulder & Lead and Speed)
• Surfing
• Table Tennis
• Taekwondo
• Tennis
• Triathlon
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling**

* Universality Places in athletics and swimming are allocated through World Athletics and World Aquatics respectively, and not through the Tripartite Commission
** Universality Places may become available through the reallocation process
*** Team sports and equestrian do not have Universality Places managed by the Tripartite Commission

Which National Olympic Committees are eligible for Universality Places?

Africa (35)

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cabo Verde
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Comoros
• Congo
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eswatini
• Gabon
• Gambia
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Lesotho
• Liberia
• Libya
• Madagascar
• Malawi
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Mozambique
• Niger
• Rwanda
• Sao Tome and Principe
• Seychelles
• Sierra Leone
• Somalia
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Togo
• United Republic of Tanzania
• Zambia

The Americas (18)

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Aruba
• Belize
• Bermuda
• Cayman Islands
• Dominica
• El Salvador
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Suriname
• Virgin Islands, British
• Virgin Islands, US

Asia (17)

• Afghanistan
• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• Brunei Darussalam
• Cambodia
• Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
• Iraq
• Kuwait
• Lao People’s Democratic Republic
• Lebanon
• Maldives
• Myanmar
• Nepal
• Oman
• Palestine
• Syrian Arab Republic
• Yemen

Europe (9)

• Albania
• Andorra
• Iceland
• Liechtenstein
• Malta
• Monaco
• Montenegro
• North Macedonia
• San Marino

Oceania (14)

• American Samoa
• Cook Islands
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Guam
• Kiribati
• Marshall Islands
• Nauru
• Palau
• Papua New Guinea
• Samoa
• Solomon Islands
• Tonga
• Tuvalu
• Vanuatu