{"id":14114,"date":"2017-12-12T14:54:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T14:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/12\/12\/russian-olympic-head-says-200-of-russias-athletes-might-compete-under-neutral-flag\/"},"modified":"2017-12-12T14:54:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T14:54:00","slug":"russian-olympic-head-says-200-of-russias-athletes-might-compete-under-neutral-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/russian-olympic-head-says-200-of-russias-athletes-might-compete-under-neutral-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Olympic Head Says 200 Of Russia's Athletes Might Compete Under Neutral Flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bill Chappell<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Russian short track athletes, first row, and ice hockey players wearing sweatshirts with the words “Russia is in my heart” attend a Russian Olympic Committee meeting Tuesday. The Russian committee said it will support athletes who compete at the 2018 Winter Games despite a ban on the national team.<\/p>\n

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Ivan Sekretarev\/AP<\/p>\n

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Ivan Sekretarev\/AP<\/p>\n

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Russia’s Olympic Committee is backing a plan for Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag in the upcoming Winter Olympics, saying it will support their participation. Despite doping sanctions against the national team, the Russian group’s head says 200 of the country’s athletes could wind up going to PyeongChang.<\/p>\n

The decision comes one week after the International Olympic Committee suspended Russia’s Olympic Committee<\/a> and effectively banned the country from having an official presence at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, as punishment for Russia’s widespread and systemic cheating by athletes using performance-enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n

Although the national committee was banned, the IOC also “created a path for clean individual athletes to compete in PyeongChang” \u2014 providing the athletes can pass strict scrutiny. Instead of wearing the official Russian uniform, they would compete under the title “Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR)” and hear the Olympic anthem rather than their national anthem.<\/p>\n

On Monday, a group of Russian athletes issued a statement<\/a> through the ROC saying that they want to compete in South Korea, despite the troubling circumstances and the humiliation of not being able to openly represent Russia.<\/p>\n