Russia at the Olympics facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Russia at the Olympics
IOC code	RUS
NOC	Russian Olympic Committee
Website
Medals Ranked 11th	Gold Silver Bronze Total 194 165 185 544

Russia, referred to by its formal name; the Russian Federation, by the International Olympic Committee, has competed at the modern Olympic Games on many occasions, but as different nations in its history. As the Russian Empire, the nation first competed at the 1900 Games, and returned again in 1908 and 1912. After the Russian revolution in 1917, and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, it would be thirty years until Russian athletes once again competed at the Olympics, as the Soviet Union at the 1952 Summer Olympics. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992, and finally returned once again as Russia at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

The Russian Olympic Committee was created in 1991 and recognized in 1993. The Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and the Russian Federation hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In six appearances Russian athletes have won a total of 425 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and another 121 at the Winter Olympic Games. Over the most recent twelve Games (since 1994), Russia's 546 total medals, including 195 gold medals, are third behind only the United States and China.

In 2017, Russia was suspended from competing at the Olympic Games due to the state-sponsored doping scandal. Russian athletes were allowed to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics as the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR). They were also allowed to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics, representing the Russian Olympic Committee.

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate at the 2024 Summer Olympics as Individual Neutral Athletes.

Hosted Games

Russia has hosted the Games on two occasions. Moscow was the host of the 1980 Summer Games, when Russia (Russian SFSR) was part of the Soviet Union. Sochi was the host of the 2014 Winter Games, as part of the Russian Federation.

Participation

Timeline of participation

Date	Team
1900–1912	Russian Empire (RU1)
1920	Estonia (EST)
1924–1936		Latvia (LAT),  Lithuania (LTU)
1952–1988	Soviet Union (URS)
1992	Estonia (EST),  Latvia (LAT),  Lithuania (LTU)		Unified Team (EUN)
1994			Russia (RUS)	Belarus (BLR)	Armenia (ARM),  Georgia (GEO),  Kazakhstan (KAZ),  Kyrgyzstan (KGZ),  Moldova (MDA),  Ukraine (UKR),  Uzbekistan (UZB)
1996–2016						Azerbaijan (AZE),  Tajikistan (TJK),  Turkmenistan (TKM)
2018			Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)
2020–2022			Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)
2024			Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN)

Combined medals

The Russian Federation, the Russian Empire, the Olympic Athletes from Russia and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) are sometimes combined outside of IOC sources. The Soviet Union is often combined with the post-union team that competed in 1992. Some sources combine the Soviet Union and Russia, despite the fact that many republics which subsequently gained or re-gained independence (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan) contributed to the medal tally of the USSR, and there are sources that combine all medals of RU1, URS, EUN, OAR, ROC and RUS. On 31 January 1992, the United Nations recognized, without objection, Russia as legal successor of the rights and obligations of the former Soviet Union, but this has no significance in medal tallies.

Medal counts:
Russia combined with precursors
status after the 2022 Olympics

	Summer Games					Winter Games					Combined total
Team (IOC code)	No.	1	2	3	Total	No.	1	2	3	Total	No.	1	2	3	Total
Russia (RUS)	6	147	126	150	423	6	47	39	35	121	12	194	165	185	544
Russian Empire (RU1)	3	1	4	3	8	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	4	3	8
Soviet Union (URS)	9	395	319	296	1010	9	78	57	59	194	18	473	376	355	1204
Unified Team (EUN)	1	45	38	29	112	1	9	6	8	23	2	54	44	37	135
Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	9	17	1	2	6	9	17
Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)	1	20	28	23	71	1	5	12	15	32	2	25	40	38	103
Total	20	608	515	501	1624	18	141	120	126	387	38	749	635	627	2011

Medal tables

*Purple border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Medals by Summer Games Games Athletes 1 Gold 2 Silver 3 Bronze Total Rank 1896 did not participate 1900 – 1912 as part of the  Russian Empire (RU1) 1920 – 1948 did not participate 1952 – 1988 as part of the  Soviet Union (URS) 1992 Barcelona as part of the  Unified Team (EUN) 1996 Atlanta 390 26 21 16 63 2 2000 Sydney 435 32 28 29 89 2 2004 Athens 446 28 26 36 90 3 2008 Beijing 455 24 13 23 60 3 2012 London 436 18 21 26 65 4 2016 Rio de Janeiro 282 19 17 20 56 4 2020 Tokyo1 as the  Republic of China (ROC) 2024 Paris as part of the  Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) 2028 Los Angeles future event Total 147 126 150 423 13

Medals by Winter Games Games Athletes 1 Gold 2 Silver 3 Bronze Total Rank 1924 – 1952 did not participate 1956 – 1988 as part of the  Soviet Union (URS) 1992 Albertville as part of the  Unified Team (EUN) 1994 Lillehammer 113 11 8 4 23 1 1998 Nagano 122 9 6 3 18 3 2002 Salt Lake City 151 5 4 4 13 5 2006 Turin 190 8 6 8 22 4 2010 Vancouver 177 3 5 7 15 11 2014 Sochi 232 11 10 9 30 1 2018 Pyeongchang1 as the  Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) 2022 Beijing1 as the  Republic of China (ROC) 2026 Milan/Cortina future event Total 47 39 35 121 10

Notes

• ¹: nominally banned due to the state-sponsored doping program.

Stripped Olympic medals

Due to doping violations, Russia has been stripped of 46 Olympic medals – the most of any country, four times the number of the runner-up, and 30% of the global total. It was the leading country in terms of the number of medals removed due to doping at the 2002 Winter Olympics (5 medals), the 2006 Winter Olympics (1 medal), the 2008 Summer Olympics (14 medals), the 2012 Summer Olympics (17 medals), 2014 Winter Olympics (4 medals — 10 others were stripped and returned) and the joint most at the 2004 Summer Olympics (3 medals), the 2016 Summer Olympics (1 medal), and the 2022 Winter Olympics (1 medal).

2016–present partial ban

Russia was partially banned from participation at the 2016 Summer Olympics due to the state-sponsored doping scandal. Russian athletes were then allowed to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics as the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR), and in both the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Russian Olympic Committee athletes (ROC).

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in January 2023 plans to have Russian athletes introduced as neutrals at the 2024 Summer Olympics. The IOC also published a statement stating that it supported the return of Russian athletes, as long as they did not "actively" advocate for the war and as long as their flag, anthem, colors, and organizations were excluded (thus preventing them from competing under the Russian Olympic Committee as in 2020 and 2022).

Flag bearers

• 1994 Lillehammer – Sergei Tchepikov
• 1996 Atlanta – Aleksandr Karelin
• 1998 Nagano – Alexey Prokurorov
• 2000 Sydney – Andrey Lavrov
• 2002 Salt Lake City – Alexey Prokurorov
• 2004 Athens – Alexander Popov
• 2006 Turin – Dmitry Dorofeyev
• 2008 Beijing – Andrei Kirilenko
• 2010 Vancouver – Aleksey Morozov
• 2012 London – Maria Sharapova
• 2014 Sochi – Alexander Zubkov
• 2016 Rio de Janeiro – Sergey Tetyukhin

See also

In Spanish: Rusia en los Juegos Olímpicos para niños

• Category:Olympic competitors for Russia
• Russia at the Paralympics
• Russian Empire at the Olympics
• Soviet Union at the Olympics & Unified Team at the Olympics
• Doping in Russia
• Icarus (2017 film)