Olympic countdown: 25 days

How five countries have competed at all 25 modern Olympics

Only five countries have competed at all 25 of the modern Olympics since their inception in 1896.

Australia, France, Greece, Great Britain and Switzerland have never failed to be represented at the Games.

And, of those five, only France, Great Britain and Switzerland have also been present at all Winter Olympics.

The United States would have joined the list, had it not been for their boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan itself was suspended by the International Olympic Committee in 1999, partly because of the Taleban's ban on the participation of women athletes.

But it will return in Athens this year and both East Timor and Kiribati have been welcomed into the Olympic fold.

The first modern Olympics in Athens was attended by only 14 national committees but a record 202 nations are set to compete next month.

The lowest attendance for different countries was just 12, set in St Louis in 1904.