Russians are fans without a country
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA— Alex is 33 and lives in Russia. He politely asks not to give his last name. His friend Vitaly is 36 and prefers to keep his name private too.
How do people know Alex is from Russia? He’s wearing a baseball hat that says “Love Russia” and waving a giant Russian flag and wearing an Alex Ovechkin jersey.
Vitaly is similarly dressed, except his hat says “All U Need Is Russia.” He’s waving a giant flag, too. Those were just a few of the clues. The two friends were strolling through Olympic Park outside the Gangneung Hockey Center on Friday afternoon. They were asked how they felt about Russia technically being banned from these Olympics.
“It is politics, not sports,” Alex says. “That’s all we can say about it.”
Just then, a couple from South Korea stop to take a selfie with them. The Russians happily oblige.
“(Everybody) has been pretty friendly,” Alex says. “Most of fans from other countries root for us. We don’t feel any problems.” These are strange Olympics. Russian fans arrived in full force this week to support athletes who can’t wear official Russian uniforms, or wave Russian flags, or hear the Russian national anthem from the podium if they win a gold medal.
Technically, Russia isn’t here after being banned by the International Olympic Committee as punishment for what the IOC called a systematic government-sponsored doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
It wasn’t a total ban, though, as 168 athletes were allowed to participate after a vetting process to prove they tested clean. Those athletes compete under the name of Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR), which scores low marks for originality. This whole situation is odd. Russia is being punished, but only quasi-punished. Some of the country’s best athletes are prohibited from competing but the OARs have performed reasonably well so far in front of large, boisterous cheering sections who chant, sing and wave Russian flags.
OAR had seven medals as of Friday (no golds) and its men’s hockey team is considered the favourite to win that marquee event.
The ban — or whatever we’re calling it — didn’t deter Russian fans from attending the Olympics, or dampen their spirits. If anything, they seem inspired by their “us-against-theIOC-and-world” position.
“It’s a very happy feeling that our fans will come here to support us, that they didn’t give up on us, that they didn’t abandon us in difficult times,” freestyle skier Maxim Burov said.