Whether you caught the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics this morning or you’re watching the taped version tonight, you’ll notice one country will not be wearing its nation’s colors.
Why are Russian athletes wearing grey during the opening ceremony?
Photo by Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Athletes from Russia sported grey jackets and denim pants, and walked out under the Olympic flag, instead of a Russian one, during arguably the most important event of any year’s games.
Why is this happening?
Earlier this year, Russia was banned by the IOC from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics amid doping violations, and just before the opening ceremony, several Russian athletes lost an appeal to compete in this year’s games. As CNN’s James Griffiths points out, many of those athletes, including speed skater Viktor Ahn, were already in Pyeongchang awaiting word on whether or not they’d be able to compete.
Although Russia was banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics, the IOC said athletes who could prove they weren’t doping could compete as “Olympic Athletes from Russia,” or OAR. So there will still be 150 Russian athletes competing this year.
Russian athletes are usually one of the biggest threats to medal at the Winter Olympics and, as my colleague James Dator points out, the country has one of the biggest audiences for the games as well.
Simply put: It’s bad. The Winter Olympics have long struggled due to dwindling viewership and exorbitant costs for host cities. Banning Russia, one of the largest TV audiences in the world, only exacerbates those problems.
It’s unclear what impact the ban will have on this year’s games in terms of viewership or medal count. Either way, the moves by Russia and the IOC are both unprecedented.
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