Although there are three athletes from India at the Winter Olympics, Himanshu Thaku for alpine skiing, Nadeem Iqbal for cross country skiing and Shiva Keshavan for the luge, none of them will represent their country.

Instead, they are classed as "independent Olympic participants," as India has been banned from Olympic activity since its Olympic association was banned by the International Olympic Committee in December 2012.

This is because the leaders of its Olympic association are primarily politicians, which is against Olympic rules, according to The New York Times.

To prevent the suspension the leaders would need to step down, which did not happen in time for the Games in Sochi.