The National Olympic Committee of the Azerbaijani Republic was created in 1992 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 1 January 1993. Azerbaijan has sent delegations to every Olympics since the 1996 Summer Olympics, first entering the Winter Olympics in Nagano in 1998. While the nation has won many medals in the Summer Olympics, they have never won a medal in the Winter Olympics. The Azerbaijani delegation to Turin consisted of a single ice dancing team, Kristin Fraser and Igor Lukanin. Lukanin was the flag bearer for the opening ceremony, while Teymur Jafarov, an assistant of the National Olympic Committee, carried the flag for the closing ceremony.