"If you watched the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Games, you may have noticed a conspicuous omission during the parade of nations. Because of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine almost exactly four years ago, Russia-and its allies in Belarus-has been banned from participating in these Olympics."
"In 1952, after having dispatched the Nazis, launched a successful nuclear program, and drawn the Iron Curtain, the U.S.S.R. showed up at the Olympics with a vengeance, fielding a massive team and winning a ton of medals across various disciplines at the Helsinki Games. The Soviet Union sent successful teams to every subsequent Olympics through 1988, with the exception of the 1984 Los Angeles Games, which the Soviets boycotted in response to America's boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games."
Russia and Belarus were banned from the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics because of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, yet 20 athletes from those countries are competing as Individual Neutral Athletes under a teal flag. The neutrality designation separates athletes from national representation while allowing individual participation. Russian participation at the Olympics has shifted over time: athletes competed under the Russian Empire through 1912, were absent until the Soviet Union's 1952 debut, then competed successfully through 1988 except for the 1984 boycott. The Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991, creating a complex transition for Olympic representation in subsequent Games.
Read at Slate Magazine
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