ROC stands for Russian Olympic Committee, it will be representing a total of 335 athletes in the Tokyo Olympics. ROC allows the Russian athletes to represent as the ban was not outright, but they have to withdraw the team name and national anthem at sporting events. Russia was banned from the Tokyo Olympics in December 2019 after the notorious doping scandal that rocked the sporting world.
The initial ban of four years was later reduced to two years in 2020, though it still ensured no official Russian team present at the Olympic Games in japan or the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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Russia was found guilty of a state-sponsored doping scheme which included Russian officials tampering with data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency and subsequently, athletes were banned from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Since 2015 Russia has been banned from competing as a country in athletics.
Russia has strenuously denied any involvement in a state-sponsored doping state scheme but a three-judge agreed that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency failed to provide authentic drug-test upon the request by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which pushed for a four-year ban.
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This meant that Russia’s name, flag, and anthem will not be allowed at Tokyo 2020 or Beijing 2022 and if Russia qualifies for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, they will have to compete under a neutral name. The Russian government officials are even barred from attending any major events, and the country has lost the right to host or bid for any Olympic, Paralympic, or World Championship events during the length of the ban.
According to the International Olympic Committee, all the public displays of the organization’s participant name will use the acronym ‘ROC’ instead of Russia or the Russian Olympic Committee. The ROC has a separate logo for the Russian flag and all the kits.
