Research, collect and prepare background materials - London Olympics 2012 - Participating Nations

It wouldn't be called Olympics without countires of all over the world taking part, do their best to win and be proud to present their country. In 2008 the Olympics in Beijing had 214 Countries participating in Beijing each country entering from as little as one athlete to as many as 693 athletes in the case of China itself. Next year there will be about 216 countires in total and to be informative here is the long list of countires taking part in alpehtecal order:

Afghanistan
Albania
Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Angola
Algeria
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Burundi
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bahrain
Botswana
Belarus
Brazil
British Virgin Islands
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Cambodia
Canada
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Taiwan
Colombia
Comoros
Cape Verde
Congo
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Cote-d´lvoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Arab Rep. of Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
The Gambia
Germany
Ghana
Great Britain
Guinea-Bissau
Georgia
Greece
Grenada
Guam
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Italy
Israel
Ivory Coast
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kenya
South Korea
North Korea
Kuwait
Laos
Latvia
Saint Lucia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Libya
Lichtenstein
Luxembourg
Rep. of Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Rep. of Moldova
Marshall Islands
Maldives
Malta
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Monaco
Montenegro
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Niger
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Palestine
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Rhodesia
Romania
Rwanda
Saint Lucia
St. Vincent & Gr.
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Samoa
American Samoa
Western Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Senegal
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Slovakia
Swaziland
Serbia
Singapore
Spain
Sudan
Surinam
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Tanzania
Tonga
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad & Tobago
Tajikistan
Timor-Leste
Turkmenistan
Tunisia
Turkey
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
U.S.A.
US Virgin Islands
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Yugoslavia
Zambia
Zimbabwe

REFERENCES

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091004092901AAoIEd1