Sport of dubious achievements: How Russia lost its main soft power tool

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From favorite plaything to national humiliation

For Putin's Russia, elite sports were not only a favorite project generously financed by oligarchs and overseen by high-ranking officials, but also an effective “soft power” tool for enhancing the country's positive image worldwide. In 2007, Vladimir Putin personally attended the International Olympic Committee (IOC) summit in Guatemala to support Sochi's bid for the 2014 Winter Games — a step well outside the usual IOC protocol.

To win over the sports establishment, Putin delivered his speech in English and French, departing from the typical practice of top Russian officials, who rarely give official statements in anything other than the state language. In the following years, Russian representatives began to appear more frequently in the leadership of global sports federations, and Russian cities became regular venues for international tournaments. The pinnacle of this collaboration was the Sochi Olympics.

The 2014 Winter Games elevated Russia to the upper echelons of the international sports community, but they soon became a source of endless problems. Shortly after IOC President Thomas Bach proclaimed that the event had shown “a new face of Russia, open to the world,” clouds began to gather over the country's sporting reputation.

In December 2014, a documentary aired on the German TV channel ARD exposing doping abuse in Russian athletics. The revelations were based on confessions by runner Yulia Stepanova and her husband, former Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) employee Vitaly Stepanov. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigated the claims presented in the film and confirmed all the facts. Consequently, the All-Russian Athletics Federation was suspended from all competitions, the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory had its license revoked, and its head, Grigory Rodchenkov, was dismissed.

Rodchenkov fled to the United States and, in spring 2016, gave an interview to the New York Times about the state-run “doping system.” Shortly before Rodchenkov’s departure from Russia, two former high-ranking RUSADA officials, Vyacheslav Sinev and Nikita Kamaev, died under mysterious circumstances.

By summer 2016, Canadian sports law specialist Richard McLaren, appointed by WADA, presented a report detailing the systematic nature of mass doping in Russian sports — a scheme that was orchestrated with the involvement of the FSB and the Ministry of Sports, and which was particularly active during the Sochi Olympics. At first glance, the blow to Russia's reputation was colossal. However, the state initially managed to mitigate its effects.

Forced neutrality

At the first Olympic Games after the doping scandal, held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Russia was represented by a substantial delegation under its own flag and anthem, even if some athletes and Ministry of Sports officials were barred from attending. This outcome was largely due to the relatively lenient stance of the IOC, which left the decision on the participation of Russian athletes to individual international sports federations. This worked in Russia's favor, as Moscow had established close ties with the leadership of many federations by that time.

The fencing federation, the sport of IOC President Thomas Bach, was even headed by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov. Some journalists believed that Bach himself had yielded to Russia due to his valued relationship with Putin, whose support was reportedly crucial for Bach's election to the top post in international sports.

On one hand, Russian authorities made concessions to the international community. They reassigned Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko and his deputy Yuri Nagornykh, who were mentioned in McLaren's report, to other positions. They also granted RUSADA formal independence from the Ministry of Sports, changed the founder of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, and involved the Investigative Committee in investigating the possible manipulation of drugs.

On the other hand, Russia firmly denied the existence of a state-run doping system — the main accusation being made against Moscow — and claimed that all violations were due to the actions of the “mentally unstable” Rodchenkov. Many Russian officials, maintaining the position that the accusations were an attempt to punish Russia for its aggressive foreign policy, repeatedly spoke disparagingly about the policies and personalities of the IOC and WADA.

Amid such rhetoric and with a significant portion of McLaren's report focusing on winter sports, the IOC decided, on the eve of the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, to allow Russian athletes to compete only under a neutral flag. However, they were still referred to as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” in the official protocols and were permitted to use the colors of the Russian flag on their equipment. Each athlete's participation required approval from anti-doping officials.

Uneasy peace

The doping scandal damaged both Russian athletes and the international sports community, which valued Russia's willingness to invest heavily in organizing tournaments. In September 2018, the WADA Executive Committee set requirements to resolve the issue: Russian authorities needed to officially recognize the conclusions of McLaren's report and transfer the doping samples and database from the Moscow laboratory, which were under the Investigative Committee's control, to WADA.

Reluctantly, the authorities in Moscow fulfilled the requirements concerning the recognition of the report and the transfer of samples. However, the transfer of data led to another scandal. Initially, WADA specialists were told that their equipment was not certified for use in Russia. When the database finally came into foreign experts' possession, it was discovered that changes had been made to conceal doping cases. According to WADA, these alterations were made by Evgeny Mochalov, the husband of the Moscow laboratory's director, Elena Mochalova.

On December 9, 2019, the WADA Executive Committee decided to revoke RUSADA's compliance status with the World Anti-Doping Code for four years. This decision also banned Russian officials from managing international sports federations and attending international competitions. It also prohibited Russia from hosting events overseen by WADA and barred the Russian flag from being raised at major tournaments.

The very next day, Vladimir Putin stated that WADA's decision contradicted the Olympic Charter and could be appealed in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Shortly thereafter, RUSADA contested the imposed sanctions.

The proceedings took a year and resulted in a compromise verdict that upheld most of the restrictions but halved their duration. Both the Russian side and WADA seemed satisfied with this decision. The sanctions were set to remain in effect until December 16, 2022. Consequently, during the summer and winter Olympic Games in Tokyo and Beijing, Russia competed without official symbols, instead using the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee, which features a tricolor in its logo. The athletes' equipment also evoked clear associations with the state, featuring a collage map with outlines of various regions of the Russian Federation.

Hit by a rocket

On February 25, 2022, the IOC Executive Board strongly condemned Russia’s violation of the Olympic truce, warned international sports federations against holding events in Russia and Belarus, and banned the display of symbols from both countries. As a result, Russian athletes were largely barred from competing, even under a neutral status. Soon after, oligarchs Usmanov and Lisin resigned from their positions in sports federations due to sanctions, and Russia's influence in international sports began to sharply decline.

Russia attempted to challenge the suspension from competition, with then-Minister of Sport Oleg Matytsin announcing in March 2022 that over 50 Russian athletic associations would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). However, the very first appeal, filed by the Russian Football Union, was unsuccessful: the judges upheld the sanctions. By the end of 2023, Match TV channel sources reported that all Russian sports associations that had previously filed lawsuits regarding their suspension had withdrawn them.

Searching for compromise

However, the situation in international sports is never static. Even during the height of the doping crisis, many international officials opposed a complete ban on Russian athletes, instead striving to create conditions that would allow “clean” competitors to participate. Most of these officials had sports backgrounds and understood the significance of the Olympic Games for each athlete. In December 2022, at the Olympic summit in Lausanne — attended by Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov — the issue of admitting athletes with Russian and Belarusian citizenship became a key topic.

The summit's final declaration highlighted the painful dilemma faced by the international Olympic movement, as collective sanctions based on athletes' citizenship conflicted with the IOC's mission of neutrality. The meeting also referenced a letter from UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs, who labeled the restrictions as discriminatory.

In January 2023, the IOC Executive Board issued a statement asserting that no athlete should be barred from competitions solely because of their citizenship. The updated policy, effective from February 2022, allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under a neutral flag but imposed two strict conditions: “respect for the Olympic Charter” (specifically, no active support for the war in Ukraine), and full compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code. In March 2023, the IOC released finalized recommendations, which included a ban on participation in team sports and restrictions on athletes with employment ties to Russian and Belarusian military and security structures, as many of these countries’ athletes have long been members of athletic clubs connected with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The decision was met with criticism from Ukrainian officials, who accused the IOC of “taking the wrong side” and “supporting wars, killings, and destruction.” The IOC rejected these accusations, and its president, Thomas Bach, sent a letter to Ukrainian Minister of Sport Vadym Guttsait warning against any boycott of the upcoming Olympic Games over the potential participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes.

Final break

Russian authorities were active during this period. On October 5, 2023, the Executive Committee of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) integrated the Olympic councils of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics,” as well as the recently annexed regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. This move sparked another scandal and almost immediately led to the ROC's expulsion from the international Olympic movement. Despite this, just a year into the war, Russian athletes regained the chance to compete in international events and to qualify for the Olympic Games in numerous sports, including fencing, wrestling, taekwondo, table tennis, cycling, gymnastics, and judo.

By March 2024, the IOC Executive Board had finalized the conditions for Russian and Belarusian athletes' participation in the Paris Summer Games. These athletes will compete as “individual neutral athletes” — or “AIN,” from the French Athlete Individuel Neutre. They will receive individual invitations from an IOC commission led by vice president Nicole Hoevertsz and will perform under a blue-green flag featuring a white logo with the AIN abbreviation and its English and French translations. At medal ceremonies, a specially composed, wordless melody will be played for them. They will also be excluded from the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. The participation quotas are notably low: the official IOC page lists 47 individual quotas across eight sports, with only 15 Russians accepting the invitations. By comparison, despite restrictions, the Russian delegation at the Tokyo Games in 2021 comprised 336 athletes.

Strict conditions were not the only — and perhaps not the most severe — obstacles facing Russian athletes on their way to Paris. In response to recent decisions, Russian officials competed to offer the harshest criticism of the IOC's actions. Umar Kremlev, who has significant support from the Russian leadership and whose presidency of the International Boxing Association led to a separate conflict with the IOC and a suspension of his organization from Olympic competitions, was particularly vocal. He declared that Russian athletes attending the Paris Games were traitors and suggested they should not return to Russia. Irina Viner, head of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics, also voiced strong disapproval, referring to athletes accepting neutral status as being part of a “team of the homeless” — it is notable that Viner’s athletes were not included under the quota. ROC president and four-time Olympic champion Stanislav Pozdnyakov supported Viner's stance but clarified that while Russian tennis players (who received one of the largest quotas) were not “homeless,” they were instead part of a “team of foreign agents.”

Several federations opted not to participate at all. Despite receiving quotas, wrestlers and judokas did not travel to Paris. Notably, the Russian Wrestling Federation (RWF) had a shifting stance: in May, its head, Olympic champion Mikhail Mamiashvili, cautiously supported participation in the Games. In June, after the publication of the first list of admitted athletes included 16 wrestlers — the largest allowance for any sport, the RWF executive committee voted in favor of participation. However, by early July, the organization issued a statement condemning the “unsportsmanlike selection process” and announced its complete withdrawal. On the IOC website, the names of Russian wrestlers are marked as having “accepted the invitation but then declined.”

Wrestlers and judokas have historically held strong positions within the Russian sports system — Putin’s childhood friend turned construction magnate Arkady Rotenberg is the vice-president of the Judo Federation. Thus it is fair to speculate that the decision to withdraw may have been made at a higher level, particularly given the recent reshuffle in Russian sports leadership: Minister of Sport Matytsin, along with Igor Levitin, the Presidential Administration’s longtime overseer of the sporting sphere, were moved to other positions.

In the past, even during periods of tense relations with the international community, Russian authorities had always managed to avoid extreme measures and find compromises. However, the new leaders are less likely to prioritize athletes' interests. It is plausible to assume that for new Minister of Sport Mikhail Degtyarev (a former assistant to the late ultranationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky) and new Presidential Administration sports overseer Alexei Dyumin (Putin’s former bodyguard), the world of athletics might be seen merely as a stepping stone in their careers. In their attempt to align with the leader's mood, they may have ruled out even the possibility of limited participation by Russian athletes in the prestigious international tournament.

It appears that, without officially boycotting the Paris Olympics, Russian authorities have fundamentally shifted their attitude towards them. Previously, even with athletes competing under a neutral status, the authorities organized grand send-offs, airport receptions, generous bonuses, luxury cars, and state honors. Presidential decrees awarding state decorations to medalists were often issued immediately during the Games, bypassing standard procedures. Now however, with minimal chances for winning medals and, for the first time in forty years, with the Olympic Games not being broadcast on television inside Russia, the situation has changed significantly. We can only be glad for the 15 Russian athletes who, despite the odds, will still achieve their dream of competing. However, they should not expect special honors at home. Their primary concern now is avoiding the potential for negative impact on their future careers due to the likelihood of continued aggressive rhetoric and threats from Kremlin-controlled media.