Russia's team name, flag agreed on for next 2 Olympics
LAUSANNE – With Russia’s name banned from the next two Olympics, the country's team and athletes will be officially branded as “ROC,” the International Olympic Committee said Friday. Russia’s team name, flag and national anthem were banned from this year’s Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. AdRussian competitors were known as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. A piece of music to replace the Russian national anthem at medal ceremonies has not yet been agreed on. “The Russian Olympic Committee will submit a proposed musical score to be played for all ceremonies,” the IOC said.
Russia claims victory with loopholes in Olympic sanctions
President of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. “It is a victory for Russia,” Russian anti-doping agency acting CEO Mikhail Bukhanov said. The most important part of the ruling, according to Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov, was the lack of any “extra criteria” for eligibility. “Clean Russian athletes can take part in the Olympics without any restrictions and do that on a team formed by the national Olympic committee,” Pozdnyakov said. When the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” team competed at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, it was only after the International Olympic Committee had vetted the athletes for possible connections to doping at the Sochi Games four years earlier.