ESAT National Olympic Committee
The ESAT National Olympic Committee (EATNOC) is the organisation which governs the Republic of the Extraterritorial Sovereign Ariddian Territory’s participation in any Olympic Games. The legitimate status of EATNOC has been subject to dispute, and some consider it to be something of a joke. Nonetheless, EATNOC claims to be a legal, official and perfectly serious Olympic committee.
ESAT itself is a tiny nation which consists solely in a single building in the heart of Rêvane, the capital city of the PDSRA. Although proclaimed as a sovereign territory, its purpose is to hold Ariddia’s membership in the United Nations, enabling the Ariddian government to retain a say in UN matters without being affected by UN legislation – a loophole which several other nations also make use of. ESAT has no actual government, save for an official head of State who also serves as the nation’s ambassador to the UN.
A few months before the beginning of the first Winter Olympics, an Ariddian athlete, road cyclist Annabel Mild, announced her intention to compete in the scheduled first Summer Olympics, but as a representative of ESAT rather than of Ariddia. Mild holds ESAT citizenship through marriage, being the wife of an Ariddian diplomat who is an aide to the PDSRA’s UN delegation. But no citizen of ESAT had ever participated in any international sporting competition, and Mild’s announced intentions left the Ariddian authorities and the Ariddian Olympic Committee (C.O.A.) faced with something of problem.
Mild argued that Ariddia, as a “foreign nation”, had no right to interfere in the “sovereign proceedings of the nation of ESAT”. A spokesman for the Ariddian Sub-Secretariat for Sport countered by pointing out that there were no governmental structures in place within ESAT to legitimate Mild’s request. Undeterred, Mild appealed directly to ESAT’s sole member of government, Secretary Christelle Zyryanov. Zyryanov conferred with the C.O.A, and finally decided that there was no justifiable procedure which might serve to thwart the young athlete’s intent. “ESAT is a sovereign democracy,” a C.O.A. spokeswoman explained. “The people of ESAT are free to do as they please in this matter.” After consulting with the C.O.A, Zyryanov ruled that any Esati citizen wishing to represent his or her country in any Olympiad would, de jure, be considered a member of the newly formed ESAT National Olympic Committee, and that EATNOC would be a self-regulating organisation, bound only by the laws of the country – which were, in essence, those of Ariddia.
At present, EATNOC has only one member – Annabel Mild herself. Mild decided, provisionally, that the country’s sports code at the Olympics would be EAT, and that, although ESAT’s flag and anthem are the same as Ariddia’s, they would be used by ESAT at the Olympics.
Asked why she wished to represent ESAT rather than Ariddia at the Games, Mild has most often answered simply, “Why not?”. She has also indicated that the idea “just came to [her]” and that she thought it could be “fun”. The publicity surrounding her controversial decision has, in any case, made her famous throughout Ariddia.
More recently, the C.O.A. held talks with EATNOC and pointed out that, the latter not being a recognised member of the international Olympic Council, ESAT was not entitled to compete in any Olympiad as a sovereign nation. Mild initially claimed she would appeal directly to the OC, then backed down and agreed to be integrated into Ariddia's delegation. It was agreed that seperate records would unofficially be kept regarding the performance of Esati athletes in any Olympic Games.
