Russia, a superpower in sports, is competing and not competing in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
Russia is participating under a pseudo name, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and that’s because the country’s name, flag and anthem are banned since 2019 by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for four years.
It prevents Russia from participating in international events, including the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
In 2015, WADA alleged that said Russia had instituted a far-reaching system of cheating with tacit approval from the highest levels of government. Then later in 2016, Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory, disclosed that Russia ran a carefully planned, state-sponsored doping scheme.
However, the four-year ban was later reduced to two in 2020 by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). The committee allowed the Russian athletes can participate if it respects and observes all imposed sanctions, pays its fines and contributions and starts adhering to WADA regulations.
Also, only those athletes who can prove their innocence and have no involvement in a doping scam have been permitted to participate but only as neutral participants, barred from using their country name, colors, flag, and anthem.
