When it was decided that Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré would play for bronze in beach volleyball, many Americans began to scratch their heads. The US world class duo Ross / Klinemann beat a duo from a country called SUI. Which country is that?
Since the beach volleyball semifinals on Wednesday, this question has apparently been googled excessively in the USA: “Which country is SUI?” SUI seems to have confused American Olympic fans, according to Google Trends.
“SUI is the country name for Switzerland,” explains the online portal CBS8 its readers. “It might not seem as intuitive as most would think it was SWI.”
“Not quite clear why not SWI or SWZ”
The website «Fansided» stumbles even more over the SUI abbreviation. If SUI is derived from French, why doesn’t the International Olympic Committee (IOC) use the abbreviations of French names for all countries? Then the USA would have to be called EUA from now on, derived from États-Unis d’Amérique.
“Fanside” puzzles: It is not entirely clear why the IOC does not “abbreviate Switzerland with SWI or SWZ or another variant”.
The abbreviation SUI is the short form for the French spelling Suisse. These three letters can also be seen on the Swiss swimming caps and on the athletics uniforms. The Americans are told that SUI is not only used at the Olympic Games, but also in international football, ski races and probably in all sports. (kes)