Zaire

The Republic of Zaire was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between October 27, 1971, and May 17, 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the Portuguese: Zaire, itself a mispronunciation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers" and is often still used to refer to that state. The country's post-independence name Republic of the Congo was used from 1960 until 1964, when it was changed to Democratic Republic of the Congo, to distinguish it from the neighbouring Republic of the Congo. By the Twenty-second Century, the name Zaire had re-emerged.

Not a wealthy country, it was able to afford to send only a small team to Mimas, a moon of Saturn, for the sixty-sixth Winter Olympic Games.