MOSCOW, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia unveiled the national team uniform for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Friday, leaving out its tricolour flag from the design to comply with doping sanctions.
ZASPORT, the outfitter of the Russian Olympic team, unveiled red, white, blue and grey uniforms that bore the logo of the Russian Olympic Committee – three flames in the colours of the national flag with the Olympic rings below them – instead of the country’s flag.
Russian athletes are barred from competing at major international events, including the Olympics, under their flag and with their anthem until December 2022.
The sanctions, initially imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) but later halved to two years on appeal, were designed to punish Moscow for providing doctored laboratory data to international anti-doping authorities that could have helped identify drug cheats.
At the Beijing Games, which run from Feb 4-20, Russians will be competing as representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee under the acronym “ROC”, as they did at the Tokyo Summer Olympics this year.
As part of the sanctions, Russian gold medal winners will be serenaded by music from composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky instead of the country’s national anthem.
Russia was also deprived of its flag at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea as punishment for state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Games. Many Russians were also banned from the 2016 Rio Games.
Russia has acknowledged some shortcomings in its implementation of anti-doping rules but denies running a state-sponsored doping programme. — NNN-AGENCIES
