Here’s what the upcoming Milan-Cortina Olympics will be missing with Russia banned from the Games
The Soviets remained at or near the global apex until their country splintered into 15 pieces six weeks before the 1992 Games, even when it was pasted back together (minus the Baltics) for Albertville.
Since then, Russia has been more than competitive by itself, despite being sanctioned at the last two Olympics for blatant doping, deprived of its flag and anthem.
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But now, because of its unprovoked and ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the team has been banned from the XXVth Winter Games that begin in Milan and Cortina less than a fortnight from now. Going, going, and gone.
Individual neutral athletes from Russia will be allowed to compete, as they did in Paris in 2024. But they’ll amount to a tiny fraction of the massive team that their Motherland usually has at Olympus.
Russia sent more than 200 athletes four years ago to Beijing, where it claimed 32 medals, second only to Norway and its most as a separate country.
Its absence from Italy will be a boon to the Scandinavian nations and Germany, who stand to pick up neckfuls of the 15 cross-country and biathlon medals that Russia claimed last time.
The US figure skaters will benefit, too. They’re a lock for the team gold and the women could win gold for the first time since 2002, and possibly put two on the podium.
There may be fewer than a dozen Russians at these Games. And unlike in 2022, when the roster was packed with familiar global medalists, this group will be all but unknown.
The most familiar athlete likely will be Adeliia Petrosian, an 18-year-old figure skater who’s Russia’s three-time champion. Her quadruple loop jump and triple Axel should make her a medal contender.
Roman Repilov won the world luge crown six years ago. And cross-country skiers Savelii Korostelev and Dariya Nepryaeva finished in the top 10 in last month’s Tour de Ski.
Because Russia has been banned from international competition since the war began four years ago, none of its athletes performed outside of their homeland until they were permitted to qualify for the Olympics in recent months.
The Russians who’ll be in Milan-Cortina had to clear a double hurdle. They could not be affiliated with their country’s military or security agencies or have publicly supported the war. And they needed to earn their Olympic spots at international events during the season.
That was a challenge, given opposition from sports organizations and some host countries. The international skiing and snowboarding federation wouldn’t allow Russians to compete in World Cup events until the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the FIS was violating its own rule about discriminating against individuals.
Russians were kept out of the luge World Cup in Latvia by the government, which put them on the undesirable persons list, and ski jumpers were denied visas in other countries. And biathlon officials didn’t want them on the firing line.
“The image is hard to imagine of Ukrainian and Russian athletes standing next to each other with a rifle,” an IBU spokesman said.
While the International Olympic Committee will welcome any validated and qualified Russians, they won’t be garbed in their national colors.
Four years ago, when the name Russia was disallowed in Beijing, “The Country That Wasn’t” still was recognizable since its representatives were allowed to wear red, white, and blue. “Our national flag can be seen really, really, obviously,” said ROC president Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
This time, the Russians will be wearing colorless uniforms, likely in shades of black, gray, and white. ”I think everyone knows where we’re from,” said ski mountaineer Nikita Filippov, the first neutral athlete to qualify. “And maybe it attracts even more attention.”
But individual means just that. The IOC ban on teams includes not only hockey and curling but also any event involving more than one competitor.
So, there’ll be no Russians in team figure skating, pairs or dance, in the cross-country, biathlon or short-track speedskating relays, the speedskating team pursuit, the two- and four-man bobsled, the luge double and relay, the skeleton mixed relay, the Nordic combined team sprint, team jumping or the Alpine team combined.
What stings the Russians most is that their men’s hockey team, their once-fabled Big Red Machine, will be excluded.
The Soviet Union and its successors — Unified Team (1992) and Olympic Athletes from Russia (2018) — have collected nine gold medals since 1956.
The first one was the most satisfying because Canada had humbled the Soviets at the previous year’s world championships.
So they were hoping for a bit of help from the US squad, just in case. Did the Americans think they could beat their northern rivals, team interpreter Roman Kislov asked Cleary?
“Absolutely,” declared Cleary, even though the United States had lost to Canada by nearly a dozen goals at the global tournament. Kislov promised him a bottle of vodka for a victory, the Americans upset their northern neighbors, 4-1, and the USSR, which blanked both teams, claimed the gold.
Seventy years later, the Soviet Union is long gone. But Cleary, now 91, still has the bottle of vodka, its gum stopper intact.
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John Powers can be reached at [email protected].
