: What country do I use? I'm writing an original story about figure skating. Problem: I have no idea what country to use for my main character. I need a country that: Actually exists Does not

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As everyone has mentioned, your requirements... particular that the country does not participate in the winter Olympics, is a bit tight. Most countries get at least 1 representative to qualify. What you are looking for is a story like Cool Runnings where you have a Jamaican team qualify and perform well at the Bobsled event. They were laughed at for most of the movie. A country that has many skating rinks likely means that they love to skate and therefore will have people who are good enough to perform in the Olympics.

As others have stated, you can create an alternative universe about a real powerhouse. Say we speed up the years to being 100 years from now. Russia, a typical powerhouse in winter Olympics and figure skating has lost funding for their program due to what ever causes. Country went broke, it has a civil war going on... what ever cause you want to do to make Russia fall apart. In comes our MC. A talented skater who is tired of war and skates in an abandoned rink when no one is around (because it is forbidden due to xxx dangers or politics). They get yelled at for sneaking off all the time but they still choose to because they love it. They end up writing themselves in an application and raised the funding themselves through working many jobs with the support of friend/bf/husband/wife/gf/family/etc. They are accepted into the Olympics as an independent. Through their trials, they get mocked at by other countries for their country (because of what ever conflict is hurting Russia). This person manages to rise above the rest to reclaim the glory (give it an olympic or 2 if you want to elongate the process) and becomes someone that unites Russia again and/or provides funding/support for their figure skating committee.

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You have to get more fictitious than you like. Your set of requirements is just too strict.

Maybe the easiest way is to set your story in a country that does participate in Olympics, but does not have much of figure skating tradition.

Another way (often used too) is to create a fictitious setting in a real country, where your character would have a full freedom of development. There are so many fiction books where (for example) USA has a fictitious president, so if you create a wholly different picture of one sport, it's not a big deal. Just be sure to stress that your setting is "alternate", and have some characters miss the "good old days", when figure skaters of that country actually got medals.

Third way is to create a fictitious country, but that, I imagine, would be more work.

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Has many skating rinks and doesn't participate in the Winter Olympics. That doesn't make sense.
I looked at a map and didn't see anything that fits your description. Maybe you could use a remote region of Siberia, and fictionalize it so that there's no rinks, but people use the frozen lakes. Maybe a few locals have learned English.
Good luck!

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