Russia’s team name and flag banned for next 2 Olympics

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GENEVA, Feb 20, (AP): 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. The team name – an acronym for Russian Olympic Committee – has been agreed on by the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has accused the country of running a state-backed doping program.

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. The CAS ruling imposed two years of sanctions on Russian sports for tampering with a testing database in Moscow while the laboratory was under state control.

The agreement of calling the team ROC avoids using the word “neutral,” which WADA insisted must counterbalance any reference to the word “Russia” on uniforms or equipment. Russian competitors were known as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The Russian team flag in Tokyo and Beijing will be the ROC symbol – an Olympic flame in the white, blue and red stripes of the national flag above the five Olympic rings. 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.

ROC president Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who also led the Olympic delegation in 2018, said it had already sent the IOC proposals for the anthem and uniforms.

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