The 18 Countries With One Athlete Competing In The Olympics

There are 88 countries participating in the 2014 Sochi Olympics and 2,800 athletes representing them. The United States is sending 230, Canada is sending 220 and Russia has 225.

The U.S., Australia, Canada, Netherlands and Switzerland teams are the biggest those countries have ever sent to the Olympics. On the other end of the spectrum are countries that are sending a single representative of their country. Five countries are making their Olympic debuts. Talk about pressure. They are:

*Denotes country’s Winter Olympic debut

Luke Steyn, Zimbabwe* – Alpine Skiing

Dmitry Trelesvski, Kyrgyzstan – Alpine Skiing

Muhammad Karim, Pakistan – Alpine Skiing

Alisher Qudratov, Tajikistan – Alpine Skiing

Yohan Goncalves Goutt, Timor-Leste* – Alpine Skiing

Elise Pellegrin, Malta* – Alpine Skiing

Dow Travers, Cayman Islands – Alpine Skiing

Hubertus Von Hohenlohe, Mexico – Alpine Skiing

Antonio Jose Pardo Andretta, Venezuela – Alpine Skiing

Jasmine Campbell, U.S. Virgin Islands – Alpine Skiing

Dachhiri Sherpa, Nepal – Cross-Country Skiing

Kari Peters, Luxembourg – Cross-Country Skiing

Tucker Murphy, Bermuda – Cross-Country Skiing

Julia Marino, Paraguay* – Freestyle Skiing

Peter Crook, British Virgin Islands – Freestyle Skiing

Pan To Barton Lui, Hong Kong – Short Track Speed Skating

Michael Christian Martinez, Philippines – Figure Skating

Bruno Banani, Tonga* – Luge

There are also three Indian athletes competing "independently" from their home country at this year's Olympics. They were introduced during the opening ceremony under the Olympic flag because the International Olympic Committee suspended their Olympic association in light of a corruption scandal.