Russia at the Olympics

Russia, referred to by its formal name; the Russian Federation, by the International Olympic Committee, has competed at the modern Olympic Games on many occasions, but as different nations in its history. As the Russian Empire, the nation first competed at the 1900 Games, and returned again in 1908 and 1912. After the Russian revolution in 1917, and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, it would be thirty years until Russian athletes once again competed at the Olympics, as the Soviet Union at the 1952 Summer Olympics. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992, and finally returned once again as Russia at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Russia at the
Olympics
IOC codeRUS
NOCRussian Olympic Committee
Websitewww.olympic.ru/en 
Medals
Ranked 10th
Gold
194
Silver
165
Bronze
186
Total
545
Summer appearances
Winter appearances
Other related appearances
 Russian Empire (1900–1912)
 Soviet Union (1952–1988)
 Unified Team (1992)
 Olympic Athletes from Russia (2018)
 ROC (2020–2022)
 Individual Neutral Athletes (2024)

The Russian Olympic Committee was created in 1991 and recognized in 1993. The Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and the Russian Federation hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In six appearances Russian athletes have won a total of 425 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and another 121 at the Winter Olympic Games. Over the most recent twelve Games (since 1994), Russia's 546 total medals, including 195 gold medals, are third behind only the United States and China.

In 2017, Russia was suspended from competing at the Olympic Games due to the state-sponsored doping scandal. Russian athletes were allowed to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics as the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR). They are also allowed to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics, representing the Russian Olympic Committee.[1]

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee plans to allow Russian athletes participate at the 2024 Summer Olympics as neutrals.[2]

Hosted Games edit

Russia has hosted the Games on two occasions. Moscow was the host of the 1980 Summer Games, when Russia (Russian SFSR) was part of the Soviet Union. Sochi was the host of the 2014 Winter Games, as part of the Russian Federation.

Games Host city Dates Nations Participants Events
1980 Summer Olympics Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union 19 July–3 August 80 5,179 203
2014 Winter Olympics Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russian Federation 7–23 February 88 2,873 98

Participation edit

Timeline of participation edit

Date Team
1900–1912   Russian Empire (RU1)
1920   Estonia (EST)
1924–1936   Latvia (LAT)   Lithuania (LTU)
1952–1988   Soviet Union (URS)
1992   Estonia (EST)   Latvia (LAT)   Lithuania (LTU)   Unified Team (EUN)
1994   Russia (RUS)   Belarus (BLR)   Armenia (ARM),   Georgia (GEO),   Kazakhstan (KAZ),   Kyrgyzstan (KGZ),   Moldova (MDA),   Ukraine (UKR),   Uzbekistan (UZB)
1996–2016   Azerbaijan (AZE),   Tajikistan (TJK),   Turkmenistan (TKM)
2018   Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)
2020–2022   Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)
2024   Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN)

Combined medals edit

The Russian Federation, the Russian Empire, the Olympic Athletes from Russia and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) are sometimes combined outside of IOC sources. The Soviet Union is often combined with the post-union team that competed in 1992.[3][4][5] Some sources combine the Soviet Union and Russia, despite the fact that many republics which subsequently gained or re-gained independence (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan) contributed to the medal tally of the USSR, and there are sources that combine all medals of RU1, URS, EUN, OAR, ROC and RUS.[6][7] On 31 January 1992, the United Nations recognized, without objection, Russia as legal successor of the rights and obligations of the former Soviet Union,[8] but this has no significance in medal tallies.

Medal counts:
Russia combined with precursors
status after the 2022 Olympics

Summer Games Winter Games Combined total
Team (IOC code)

No.

 

 

 

Total

No.

 

 

 

Total

No.

 

 

 

Total

  Russia (RUS) 6 147 126 151 424 6 47 39 35 121 12 194 165 186 545
  Russian Empire (RU1) 3 1 4 3 8 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 4 3 8
  Soviet Union (URS) 9 395 319 296 1010 9 78 57 59 194 18 473 376 355 1204
  Unified Team (EUN) 1 45 38 29 112 1 9 6 8 23 2 54 44 37 135
  Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 9 17 1 2 6 9 17
  Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 1 20 28 23 71 1 6 12 14 32 2 26 40 37 103
Total 20 608 515 502 1625 18 142 120 125 387 38 750 635 627 2012

Medal tables edit

*Purple border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.
Notes

Notes edit

  • On 9 February 2014, Russia captured the inaugural gold medal in the team figure skating event at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.[9] Yulia Lipnitskaya, at 15, becomes the youngest Russian Winter Olympic medalist.[citation needed]
  • On 10 February 2014, Viktor Ahn won the first short track speedskating medal for Russia competing as Russia. He won the bronze medal in the 1500m short track speedskating event at the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics.[10]
  • On 15 February 2014, Ahn won the second Russian gold medal in the 1000m short track speedskating event, leading the first Russian 1–2 finish in short track, with Vladimir Grigorev winning silver. At 31 years and 191 days, Grigorev also became the oldest man to win a short track Olympic medal.[11]
  • On 20 February 2014, Adelina Sotnikova won the first ever Russian ladies figure skating gold medal.

Stripped Olympic medals edit

Due to doping violations, Russia has been stripped of 46 Olympic medals – the most of any country, four times the number of the runner-up, and 30% of the global total. It was the leading country in terms of the number of medals removed due to doping at the 2002 Winter Olympics (5 medals), the 2006 Winter Olympics (1 medal), the 2008 Summer Olympics (14 medals), the 2012 Summer Olympics (17 medals), 2014 Winter Olympics (4 medals — 10 others were stripped and returned) and the joint most at the 2004 Summer Olympics (3 medals), the 2016 Summer Olympics (1 medal), and the 2022 Winter Olympics (1 medal).

Olympics Athlete Medal Event Ref
2002 Winter Olympics Olga Danilova Gold Cross-country skiing, women's 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit [12]
Silver Cross-country skiing, women's 10 km classical [12]
Larisa Lazutina Gold Cross-country skiing, women's 30 km classical [12][13]
Silver Cross-country skiing, women's 15 km freestyle [14]
Silver Cross-country skiing, women's 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit [14]
2004 Summer Olympics Irina Korzhanenko Gold Athletics, women's shot put [15]
Svetlana Krivelyova Bronze Athletics, women's shot put [16]
Oleg Perepetchenov Bronze Weightlifting, men's 77 kg [17]
2006 Winter Olympics Olga Pyleva Silver Biathlon, women's individual [18]
2008 Summer Olympics Relay team (Yuliya Chermoshanskaya) Gold Athletics, women's 4 × 100 m relay [19]
Relay team
(Anastasiya Kapachinskaya, Tatyana Firova)
Silver Athletics, women's 4 × 400 m relay [21]
Maria Abakumova Silver Athletics, women's javelin throw [22]
Relay team (Denis Alexeev) Bronze Athletics, men's 4 × 400 m relay [22]
Yekaterina Volkova Bronze Athletics, women's 3000 m steeplechase [24]
Anna Chicherova Bronze Athletics, women's high jump [26]
Khadzhimurat Akkayev Bronze Weightlifting, men's 94 kg [27]
Dmitry Lapikov Bronze Weightlifting, men's 105 kg [27]
Marina Shainova Silver Weightlifting, women's 58 kg [21]
Nadezhda Evstyukhina Bronze Weightlifting, women's 75 kg [21]
Khasan Baroyev Silver Wrestling, men's Greco-Roman 120 kg [27]
Tatyana Lebedeva Silver Athletics, women's triple jump [28]
Tatyana Lebedeva Silver Athletics, women's long jump [28]
Tatyana Chernova Bronze Athletics, Women's heptathlon [29]
2012 Summer Olympics Tatyana Lysenko Gold Athletics, women's hammer throw [30]
Yuliya Zaripova Gold Athletics, women's 3000 m steeplechase [31][32]
Sergey Kirdyapkin Gold Athletics, men's 50 km walk [33]
Tatyana Chernova Bronze Athletics, women's heptathlon [34]
Darya Pishchalnikova Silver Athletics, women's discus throw [35]
Yevgeniya Kolodko Silver Athletics, women's shot put [36]
Olga Kaniskina Silver Athletics, women's 20 km walk [37]
Apti Aukhadov Silver Weightlifting, men's 85 kg [38]
Aleksandr Ivanov Silver Weightlifting, men's 94 kg [32]
Natalia Zabolotnaya Silver Weightlifting, women's 75 kg [32]
Svetlana Tsarukayeva Silver Weightlifting, women's 63 kg
Relay (Antonina Krivoshapka, Yulia Gushchina, Tatyana Firova, Natalya Antyukh) Silver Athletics, women's 4 × 400 m relay [39][40]
Mariya Savinova Gold Athletics, women's 800 m
Natalya Antyukh Gold Athletics, women's 400 m hurdles [41]
2014 Winter Olympics Alexandr Zubkov, Alexey Voyevoda Gold Bobsleigh, Two-man [42][43]
Alexandr Zubkov, Alexey Negodaylo, Dmitry Trunenkov and Alexey Voyevoda Gold Bobsleigh, Four-man [42][44][45]

[43]

Relay team (Olga Vilukhina, Yana Romanova, Olga Zaitseva) Silver Biathlon, Women's relay
2016 Summer Olympics Mikhail Aloyan Silver Boxing, men's flyweight [46]
2022 Winter Olympics Team event (Mark Kondratiuk, Kamila Valieva, Anastasia Mishina, Aleksandr Galliamov, Victoria Sinitsina, Nikita Katsalapov) Disputed [47]

Investigation in progress [48]

Gold

(Disputed)[49]

Figure Skating, Team event [50]

2016-present partial ban edit

Russia was partially banned from participation at the 2016 Summer Olympics due to the state-sponsored doping scandal. Russian athletes were then allowed to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics as the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR), and in both the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Russian Olympic Committee athletes (ROC).[51][52]

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in January 2023 plans to have Russian athletes introduced as neutrals at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[2][53] The IOC also published a statement stating that it supported the return of Russian athletes, as long as they did not "actively" support the war and as long as their flag, anthem, colors, and organizations were excluded (thus preventing them from competing under the Russian Olympic Committee as in 2020 and 2022).[54]

Flag bearers edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "IOC suspends Russian NOC and creates a path for clean individual athletes to compete in PyeongChang 2018 under the Olympic Flag". International Olympic Committee. 19 June 2018.
  2. ^ a b Miller, David (6 January 2023). "Western nations considering Paris 2024 boycott if Russia is allowed to compete". Inside the games. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  3. ^ "Team USA has more medals in the Summer Olympics than the next two countries combined". businessinsider. July 28, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  4. ^ "All-Time Olympic Games Medal Tally (Summer Olympics)". topendsports. August 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  5. ^ "Medal standings for all Olympic Games". olympteka. February 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  6. ^ "CHART:The United States Dominates When It Comes To Olympic Gold Medals". businessinsider. February 13, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  7. ^ "Countries With The Most Summer Olympic Medals". WorldAtlas The Original Online Geography Resource. July 23, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  8. ^ Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations from the President of the Russian Federation, 24 December 1991
  9. ^ Alice Park (20 February 2014). "Russia Has Its First Ladies Figure Skating Gold Medalist, But It's Not Lipnitskaya". Time. Archived from the original on February 20, 2014.
  10. ^ Mark Zeigler (10 February 2014). "Viktor Ahn: For Russia, with love". U-T San Diego.
  11. ^ Beth Harris (15 February 2014). "Viktor Ahn wins 1st Olympic gold and 2nd short track medal for his adopted Russia". Yahoo Sports. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  12. ^ a b c "Muehlegg, Lazutina test positive, stripped of golds". ESPN.com. Associated Press. February 24, 2002.
  13. ^ "Drugs test denies Lazutina gold". BBC News. February 24, 2002.
  14. ^ a b "Lazutina loses Olympic medals". BBC News. June 29, 2003.
  15. ^ "Shot-put champion will lose gold". CNN. August 22, 2004.
  16. ^ "Four Athens competitors stripped of medals". Al Jazeera. December 5, 2012.
  17. ^ "Russian weightlifter, Oleg Perepetchenov, stripped of Athens bronze medal". The Times of India. February 12, 2013.[dead link]
  18. ^ "Russian Woman Stripped of Biathlon Medal". NBCSports.com. Associated Press. February 16, 2006. Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  19. ^ "IOC sanctions Yulia Chermoshanskaya for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008". International Olympic Committee. 6 February 2018.
  20. ^ "IOC sanctions three athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008". International Olympic Committee. 2016-08-19. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  21. ^ a b c "IOC sanctions six athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008". International Olympic Committee. 2016-08-31. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
  22. ^ a b "IOC sanctions four athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008 and London 2012". International Olympic Committee. 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  23. ^ "9 Olympians, including 6 medallists, caught for Beijing doping". cbc.ca. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  24. ^ "IOC sanctions nine athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008". International Olympic Committee. 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  25. ^ "Russian Chicherova stripped of 2008 Olympics high jump medal". reuters.com. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  26. ^ "IOC sanctions Anna Chicherova for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008". International Olympic Committee. 25 January 2017.
  27. ^ a b c "IOC sanctions 16 athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008". International Olympic Committee. 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  28. ^ a b "IOC sanctions two athletes for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008". International Olympic Committee. 31 May 2017.
  29. ^ "IOC sanctions two athletes for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008 and London 2012". International Olympic Committee. 18 May 2017.
  30. ^ "IOC sanctions Tatyana Lysenko for failing anti-doping test at London 2012". International Olympic Committee. 25 January 2017.
  31. ^ "The decisions of the Lausanne (Switzerland) Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding the Russian Athletes". 2016-03-16. Archived from the original on 2016-06-25. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
  32. ^ a b c "IOC sanctions 12 athletes for failing anti-doping test at London 2012". International Olympic Committee. 2016-11-21. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  33. ^ "London 2012 50km walk men – Olympic Athletics". International Olympic Committee. 7 March 2019.
  34. ^ Sean, Ingle (November 29, 2016). "Jessica Ennis-Hill in line for 2011 gold as Chernova is stripped of world title". The Guardian.
  35. ^ "Russia's Pishchalnikova given 10-year doping ban". Reuters. 2013-05-01. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
  36. ^ "IOC sanctions Evgeniia Kolodko for failing anti-doping test at London 2012". olympic.org. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  37. ^ "London 2012 20km race walk women – Olympic Athletics". International Olympic Committee. 7 March 2019.
  38. ^ "IOC sanctions two athletes for failing anti-doping test at London 2012". International Olympic Committee. 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2016-10-18.
  39. ^ "IOC sanctions three athletes for failing anti-doping tests at London 2012". International Olympic Committee. 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
  40. ^ "More Russian track athletes banned for doping at London Olympics". www.cbc.ca. 2017-11-28.
  41. ^ "Lashinda Demus in line for 2012 Olympics gold after Russian DQ'd". ESPN. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  42. ^ a b "IOC sanctions four Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. 24 November 2017.
  43. ^ a b "Russian bobsledder banned over doping". France 24. 18 December 2017.
  44. ^ a b "IOC sanctions five Russian athletes and publishes first full decision as part of the Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. 2017-11-27. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  45. ^ a b "IOC sanctions three Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. 6 February 2018.
  46. ^ "CAS to strip Olympic medals from Russian boxer, Romanian weightlifter". espn.com. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  47. ^ Radnofsky, Louise. "The Case of the Missing Olympic Gold Medals". WSJ. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  48. ^ "Wada to take Valieva case to Cas after skater cleared by Rusada". The Guardian. Reuters. 2023-02-21. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  49. ^ "Sports tribunal to hear evidence in Olympic figure skating doping scandal". PBS NewsHour. 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  50. ^ "Breaking down ROC figure skater Kamila Valieva, trimetazidine and possible consequences". KCRA. 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  51. ^ "With one year until 2018 Winter Games, Russia's status murky". 2017-02-09.
  52. ^ "IOC suspends Russian NOC and creates a path for clean individual athletes to compete in Pyeongchang 2018 under the Olympic Flag" (Press release). International Olympic Committee. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  53. ^ Llewellyn, Liam (2 February 2023). "'Up to 40 countries' could boycott Olympic Games making Paris 2024 "pointless"". Mirror. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  54. ^ "Statement on solidarity with Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Belarus, and the status of athletes from these countries". International Olympic Committee. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.

External links edit