Russia did not compete in Tokyo 2020, but they won the 3rd most medals overall.

This is the medal count for Russia:

Gold 20 Silver 28 Bronze 23 Total 71

USA had 113 and China had 88.

Technically, Russia did not compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at all.

So who gotten the 71 medals?

The Russian Olympic Committee or ROC.

Yup, apparently, if you are banned from a competition, you can simply rename your country and participate under a moniker.

The ROC constitutes of Russian pro-athletes similar to another other athlete representing their country.

Why did they have to do that?

The International Olympic Committee officially banned Russia from Tokyo 2020.

Why were the Russians banned?

That is the mind-blowing part.

“To recap: At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the Russians constructed a building adjacent to the drug-testing lab and then cut a hole in the wall. Each night, after the lab closed, workers passed dirty athlete samples out and clean samples in.”

“Two predictable things happened: Russia won the most medals. Not a single Russian tested positive. When they got done doping the Olympics, they then did the same at the Paralympics as well, which seems particularly pathetic. Russia won the most medals there, too, of course, more than three times the next-best country.”

This is incredible to me on so many levels.

The extent Russian went to cheat.

The extent of doping practises not just in Russian but all over.

The persistence of the Russian Athlete to still compete in Tokyo 2020.

The fact that IOC tried to punish Russian but it backfired so magnificently.

The fact that Russia was banned and still won so many medals.

Is it considered a ban if the Russians were not banned?

Was there any use of the punishment if there was no semblance of a punishment?

I have more questions than answers for now.

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