The Beijing Winter Olympics are well underway, with all manner of impressive snow and ice oriented pursuits gaining the attention of the British public.
Different and interesting sports not often seen on the nation’s TV screens have suddenly become a familiar sight, with Brits no longer batting an eyelid when they notice curling playing on a TV in a pub, or ski slaloms through their neighbour’s window.
Despite the nation’s newfound interest in this cold weather range of activities, Team GB’s hunt for a medal goes on and with just four days remaining of the games time is running out.
In amongst all the excitement, however, eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed a team competing in the games they don’t recognise.
What is ROC and what does it stand for?
ROC stands for Russian Olympic Committee, the national committee representing Russia.
The team don’t wear the names or flag of any country. Instead, their kits show a badge that looks, at a glance, to be purely generic with the Olympic rings underneath a flame.
Look a little more closely, however, and you will see the colours of the flame are the same white, blue and red as the Russian national flag.
Why aren’t Russia at the Winter Olympics?
In December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited Russia from entering all international sports for four years.
The organisation found that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had provided data that had been manipulated by Russian Authorities.
Russia appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which decided to deescalate the punishment handed down by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
They said instead that Russian athletes would be allowed to compete, but they weren’t allowed to use the Russian flag, name or national anthem and must instead be a neutral team.
In 2021, the announcement came that Russia would compete under the title of ROC and would replace the national flag with the Committee’s emblem.
The name landed Russia in some hot water with Taiwan, which had already been competing under the title of ROC, as it is the abbreviation of their official name, Republic of China.
