Winter Olympics: Why is Russia competing as the Olympic Athletes of Russia?
By Amy Kaplan
While many are gearing up to cheer on their favorite country, some are left wondering what happened to Russia and who exactly are OAR.
The 2018 Winter Olympics heads to Pyeongchang, South Korea this month to host the top athletes from countries all over the globe. One thing you may have already noticed is the notable absence of Russia in the lineup for countries, and here’s why.
In early December Russia was banned from competing in the Olympics due to prior performance-enhancing doping controversies involving athletes, coaches, and even Russian testing labs.
But, the International Olympic Committee didn’t want to penalize the Russian athletes who worked their whole lives to compete in this quadrennial opportunity — and didn’t dope. So some Russian-born athletes are still allowed to compete under the banner of Olympic Athletes of Russia. No medals that are won by these athletes will go towards Russia.
There will be a total of 169 athletes competing under this banner and have all been approved by the International Olympic Committee. These athletes will wear neutral uniforms and compete under the Olympic flag.
According to The Los Angeles Times, the IOC reviewed 389 candidates who applied to be part of the delegation. The athletes had to prove that they had tested clean multiple times in order to be approved under this banner.
Some have wondered if any of the 169 will boycott to show solidarity with fellow athletes, as Russian officials have alluded to, but there are no reports of any athletes refusing the invitation. Ultimately, the chance to compete at the Olympics is just too hard to pass up.
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This will be the smallest delegation of Russian athletes in a Winter Olympics in more than 10 years.
The 2018 Winter Olympics will begin airing on NBC on Feb. 8 and will run through the 25.