Russian athletes will compete under Olympic flag in 2018

The Russian Olympic Committee has formally given its blessing for the country’s athletes to compete under a neutral flag at next year’s Winter Olympics.

Russians will compete under the Olympic flag as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” under International Olympic Committee sanctions announced last week in response to the country’s doping violations at the 2014 Sochi Games.

The organisation made the decision at a closed congress yesterday. Russian president Vladimir Putin gave his backing last week. ROC president Alexander Zhukov said: “The opinion of all taking part was united and that was that our athletes need to go to South Korea, compete and win.”

Some Russians will formally be invited by the IOC to compete as individual athletes at the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea, though the ROC will submit rosters of its preferred teams.

Mr Zhukov said: “I think the IOC will make sure that the strongest Russian athletes get the invitations, so that, for example, our hockey team consists of the best players.”

He added that 200 Russian athletes could end up competing in South Korea.

Russians who want to compete at Pyeongchang still need to pass a screening process by an IOC committee, which will examine their history of drug testing.

Mr Zhukov said Russia still denied operating a doping programme at the 2014 Olympic Games. He also rejected any suggestion he had made a deal with the IOC to avoid harsher sanctions.

“It’s unacceptable to take away an athlete’s right to represent his country,” he said. “In my view, it breaks not only the Olympic charter, but human rights, so you really can’t talk about a deal here.

“We’reinthesituationwhere we had to make a decision even though we consider this ruling unfair.”

The ROC’S approval doesn’t mean Russia is abandoning legal challenges against the IOC sanctions.

Some 25 athletes have been banned for doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, all of whom have filed appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

IOC rules bar Russians from Pyeongchang if they have previously served doping bans.

Russia will send a delegation to Switzerland on Friday to discuss details such as whether athletes can wear national colours in their uniforms.

Russian national hockey team captain Ilya Kovalchuk welcomed the ROC’S approval, saying it would calm athletes after a period of turmoil. “Thank God it’s all behind us and we’re going to the Olympics,” he said.