ROC at Beijing 2022: What is it and how can Russian athletes compete at the Olympics?
Eagle-eyed viewers watching the 2022 Beijing Games will once again notice a now familiar acronym -- ROC, which stands for the Russian Olympic Committee.
Its
significance? An opportunity for clean Russian athletes to compete in
the Olympics while their country remains banned from the Games because
of a doping scandal.
Russian athletes will be competing under the neutral banner for the second consecutive Games after they did so at last year's Tokyo Olympics.
There are specific rules the ROC has to follow to distinguish itself from the country of Russia.
But first, here is a reminder of how events unfolded at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Russia banned, but 'clean' athletes given lifeline
In
December 2017, a little over two months before the start of the Winter
Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced an
unprecedented ban on Russia competing in South Korea as a result of the
country's "systemic manipulation" of anti-doping rules.
But there was a catch.
Russian
athletes who could prove that they were clean were "invited" by the IOC
to compete as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia" (OAR), under the Olympic
flag and anthem -- in all, 168 athletes were eligible to compete in Pyeongchang.
Despite
being the third largest team at the Games, OAR only finished 13th in
the medal table -- winning two golds, nine fewer than at Sochi 2014.
Two
OAR athletes failed drugs tests during the Games, but it wasn't enough
to prevent Russia from being welcomed back into the Olympic family
shortly after the Games had concluded.
That, though, wasn't to be the end of the story.
Further Russian sanctions
In December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sporting competitions, including the Olympics, for four years over doping non-compliance.
The
punishment was related to inconsistencies in data retrieved by WADA in
January 2019 from the Moscow lab at the center of a 2016 report that
uncovered a widespread and sophisticated state-sponsored sports doping
network.
WADA's
compliance review committee suggested sanctions because the Russian
Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) failed to fully cooperate during probes into
the country's sports.
A year later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cut Russia's ban in half to two years following an appeal.
The
verdict means Russian athletes are currently unable to compete under
their country's name, flag and national anthem at major international
sporting events until December 16, 2022 -- thus covering both the 2022
Winter Games and 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
WADA,
though, warned ahead of the Beijing Games that although Russia is now
following anti-doping rules it shouldn't assume sanctions will
automatically lifted when the country's suspension ends.
"RUSADA
needs to follow the rules, the requirements, and standards and so far
they are doing it [...] This is an ongoing process, this is not end of
this chapter," WADA President Witold Banka told Reuters in February.
Russia's flag and anthem, therefore, won't be seen or heard at the Olympics until the 2024 Games in Paris at the earliest.
The creation of the ROC and Tokyo success
In
February 2021, the IOC announced Russian athletes would compete under
the acronym ROC at the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Olympics.
The team would still bear the country's colors of white, blue and red.
But instead of Russia's flag, the ROC's flag features its colors in an Olympic flame placed above the five Olympic rings.
As many as 335 athletes competed for the ROC in Tokyo with the team finishing 5th in the medal table -- the most medals won by Russia's athletes since Athens 2004.
Further success is now being forecast at the Beijing Games.
Team ROC celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's team gymnastic final at Tokyo 2020.
Beijing awaits, Putin poised to attend
The
ROC is predicted to come second to Norway in the medal table with 11
golds, 12 silvers and 9 bronzes, according to analysis by sports data
company Gracenote.
Fifteen-year-old
figure skating sensation Kamila Valieva, cross-country skier Alexander
Bolshunov and the men's ice hockey team are among those strongly tipped
for success.
Just
as in Tokyo, ROC gold medal winners will be played Pyotr Tchaikovsky's
"Piano Concerto No. 1" instead of the Russian national anthem during
their medal ceremony.
The ROC will have 212 athletes at Beijing 2022 and has been predicted to finish in the top three in the final medal standings.
They
can expect to be watched on at the Opening Ceremony by Russian
President Vladimir Putin after he assured Chinese leader Xi Jinping that
he would attend the event.
It comes after the United States, United Kingdom and Australia all announced a diplomatic boycott of February's Games.
Meanwhile, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will once against cast a shadow over proceedings.
Over 85% of Russian athletes bound for Beijing have so far been vaccinated, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.
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