Russia’s Tokyo Olympics kit IDENTICAL even though name, flag and anthem are BANNED

The Russian Olympic Committee have unveiled their kit for the Tokyo games, which bears the country’s iconic red, white and blue colours even though they are banned from using their name, flag and anthem this summer.

‘Neutral’ Russian athletes will take part at the Games in the Japanese capital under the name ‘ROC’ as part of doping sanctions imposed on them.

Russia is barred from competing at major international events, including the Olympics, under their flag and with their national anthem until 2022 following a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last year.  

The Russian Olympic Committee have unveiled their kit for this summer’s Tokyo games

Shirts and jackets feature the country’s iconic three colours, like kits for previous Games have

Despite their name, flag and anthem being banned this summer, their kit is very similar to that of previous Games

The sanctions were designed to punish Moscow for providing global anti-doping authorities with doctored laboratory data

The sanctions, initially imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) but later halved to two years after an appeal, were designed to punish Moscow for providing global anti-doping authorities with doctored laboratory data that could have helped identify drug cheats. 

As a result, it seems Russian competitors will still be wearing blue, red and white kit to compete in the Japanese capital but their country’s tricolor flag will not be included.

ZASPORT, the kit supplier of the Russian Olympic team, unveiled their designs on Wednesday that bore the logo of the Russian Olympic Committee instead of the country’s flag. 

The kit includes polo shirts and jackets with a white top and large areas of blue and red across the torso, which makes them look undoubtedly similar to kits worn by previous Russian athletes. 

There was plenty of red and white on the archery kit worn by Oleg Shestakov in Rio de Janeiro

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) published guidelines back in February pertaining to uniforms and other aspects of competition.

It said at the time that Russians would compete as representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee under the acronym ‘ROC.’

Many Russian athletes were barred from the past two Olympics and the country was deprived of its flag at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games as punishment for state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Games on home soil.

Russia, who have acknowledged issues in its implementation of anti-doping policies, still denies running a state-sponsored doping programme.

It comes after World Athletics reinstated the Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) scheme to allow up to 10 Russians to qualify for this year’s Olympics if they meet certain criteria.

Red, white and blue was all over the kit given to Russian coaches for the Brazilian Games too

World Athletics’ Russia Taskforce chairman Rune Andersen confirmed last month that a maximum of 10 athletes from the country would be able to apply to compete under a neutral flag ahead of the European summer season.

But Russia’s athletics federation (RusAF) must continue to implement their plan to ‘rebuild trust’.

RusAF has been suspended since 2015 after a report commissioned by WADA found evidence of mass doping among track and field athletes.

The process by which Russian athletes had in the past been cleared to compete internationally despite the federation’s suspension was halted last March.

There were 29 Russian athletes who took part under a neutral flag at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019. 

Russia won 56 medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics, including 19 golds, 17 silvers and 20 bronzes.