Events started today at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, 1 day before the Opening Ceremony. This is not uncommon, and also occurred at Sochi in 2014.

Of the 23 Winter Olympics to date, including PC, 14 of them started on the day of, or after, the Opening Ceremony, and finished before or on the day of the Closing Ceremony. This happened consecutively from 1988-2010.

The first Winter Olympics at Chamonix in 1924 had its sporting events end the day before the Closing Ceremony, the only time that has happened.

In 1932, the events finished 2 days after the Closing Ceremony, because weather had caused postponement of events.

In 1964, 1968, and 1984, the events started 2 days before the Opening Ceremony. The events have started the day before the Opening Ceremony in 1976, 1980, 2014, and 2018.

Following up on my previous post – https://olympstats.com/2018/02/08/20000-winter-olympians-and-100000-male-olympians/.

The start list for men’s normal hill ski jumping qualifying round tonite has been announced. Assuming everyone starts, the 16th jumper will be the 11th new Olympian starting tonite, and will become the 100,000th male Olympian of all-time – summer and winter.

And that 16th jumper and the winner is @Casey16Larson – Casey Larson of @TeamUSA. Tell ’em what he’s won, Don Pardo!

There are about 2,950 athletes entered here in PyeongChang (PC). Of these 1,689 have never before competed at an Olympic Games.

This brings the total number of Olympians (since 1896) over a few landmarks. The following now assumes that all 1,689 new Olympians will compete in PC, which is probably not exactly the case.

The number of Winter Olympians will now top 20,000 for the first time, reaching about 20,705. So some new Olympian in PC will become the 20,000^th Winter Olympian – who will it be? Actually, it will be very hard to say, because to date, there have currently been 19,016 Winter Olympians through 2014. So of the 1,014 new Winter Olympians likely to compete, it will be the 984^th to enter the start gate. If you’d like to try to track that let us know.

Further the number of male Olympians, summer and winter, will top 100,000 for the first time, likely reaching about 100,997 if all 1,014 new male Olympians compete in PC. This is trackable and it will likely be possible to determine who is the 100,000^th male Olympian. To date, there have been 99,983 male Olympians, so the 17^th new male competitor to get to the starting line will be the 100,000^th male Olympian.

Who will that be? This morning there were 4 mixed doubles curling matches, with 8 men competing. Six of those 8 men are new Olympians, bringing us to 99,989 male Olympians all-time, as of noontime, PyeongChang time..

Men’s normal hill ski jump qualifying takes place tonite. There will likely be 60 competitors (62 at Sochi in this event phase), and of those, about 20 will be new Olympians – as I write this the start list as not yet been announced.

The 11^th new Olympian in the men’s normal hill ski jump qualifying tonite will become the 100,000^th male Olympian. That should be relatively easy to determine as the ski jumpers go off one at a time. Once I get that start list, I’ll update this.

Today’s CAS ruling puts all Sochi results and purported Sochi results and updates into chaos.

Here is what the original medal standings looked like at the end of the Sochi Olympics (top 5 places only).

[table]

Original,NOC,G,S,B,TM,USRnk,EuRnk

23-Feb-14,RUS,13,11,9,33,1,1

23-Feb-14,USA,9,7,12,28,2,4

23-Feb-14,NOR,11,5,10,26,3,2

23-Feb-14,CAN,10,10,5,25,4,3

23-Feb-14,NED,8,7,9,24,5,5

[/table]

After the Oswald Commission rulings, fully released by 22 December 2017, the Russians lost 13 medals from Sochi, as follows:

[table]

Class,Sport,Year,Event,Place

M,CCS,2014,50K,1

M,SKE,2014,Skeleton,1

M,BOB,2014,2-man,1

M,BOB,2014,4-man,1

M,CCS,2014,4x10relay,2

M,CCS,2014,50K,2

M,CCS,2014,Team Sprint,2

X,LUG,2014,Mixed Relay,2

M,LUG,2014,Singles,2

F,SSK,2014,500,2

F,BIA,2014,Relay,2

F,BIA,2014,7.5 km,2

F,SKE,2014,Skeleton,3

[/table]

This changed the Sochi medals table to the following:

[table]

22 Dec 2017,NOC,G,S,B,TM,USRnk,EuRnk

22-Dec-17,USA,9,7,12,28,1,3

22-Dec-17,NOR,11,5,10,26,2,1

22-Dec-17,CAN,10,10,5,25,3,2

22-Dec-17,NED,8,7,9,24,4,5

22-Dec-17,RUS,9,3,8,20,5,4

[/table]

After today’s ruling by CAS, at least 9 of the 13 Russian medals will likely be restored. The following should be restored:

[table]

Class,Sport,Year,Event,Place

M,RUS,CCS,2014,50K,1

M,RUS,SKE,2014,Skeleton,1

M,RUS,CCS,2014,4x10relay,2

M,RUS,CCS,2014,50K,2

M,RUS,CCS,2014,Team Sprint,2

X,RUS,LUG,2014,Mixed Relay,2

M,RUS,LUG,2014,Singles,2

F,RUS,SSK,2014,500,2

F,RUS,SKE,2014,Skeleton,3

[/table]

Four medals DQs have not yet changed. The 2-man bobsled gold medal will remain disqualified as both Aleksandr Zubkov and Aleksey Voyevoda’s DQs were upheld, although their lifelong Olympic bans were reversed. The women’s biathlon relay silver remains removed, as does the women’s biathlon 7.5 km silver, as Olga Zaytseva and Olga Vilukhina have not had their appeals heard yet. The 4-man bobsled gold medal is in no man’s land. Zubkov and Voyevoda were part of that gold medal sled, and were disqualified, but the other two pushers, Dmitry Trunenkov and Aleksey Negodaylo, were both exonerated.

With the CAS rulings, 9 medals – 2 golds, 6 silvers, and 1 bronze – will be restored to the Russians from Sochi. This makes the current top of the medal standings for Sochi look like the following:

[table]

Current,NOC,G,S,B,TM,USRnk,EuRnk

1-Feb-18,RUS,11,9,9,29,1,1

1-Feb-18,USA,9,7,12,28,2,4

1-Feb-18,NOR,11,5,10,26,3,2

1-Feb-18,CAN,10,10,5,25,4,3

1-Feb-18,NED,8,7,9,24,5,5

[/table]

By either the US system (medals-gold-silver-bronze) or the International / European system (gold-silver-bronze) of medal rankings, the Russian team returns to the top of the medal standings in Sochi.

There are 15 sports to be contested at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Oh, wait a minute, actually there’s only 7 sports being contested. Did you know that swimming is not a sport at the Olympics? I know, you think I’m nuts.

But all of those statements have some element of truth to them, including the last one. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) defines several types of competitions to be held at the Olympic Games. These are, in order – sports, disciplines, events, phases, units.

Sports are “sports” that are governed by International Federations (IFs). These include what we expect – athletics (track & field), basketball, rowing, wrestling, etc. It does not include swimming, which is not a sport to the IOC, but it does include aquatics, which is.

Disciplines are subsections of sports. Many sports have subsections, such as athletics with running, throwing, hurdling, but only certain sports have defined disciplines by their IFs. Cycling has road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, and BMX racing. Skiing has Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and snowboarding. And aquatics, defined as a sport by the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA), recognizes several disciplines, four of which are held at the Olympic Games – swimming, diving, artistic swimming (known until this year as synchronized swimming), and water polo. So swimming is not a sport at the Olympics, it is a discipline.

Events are competitions at the Olympic Games for which the result yields a final result standings and medals to be awarded, such as the 100 metre freestyle swimming, or the decathlon. Thus, in the sport of skiing, we have the discipline of Alpine skiing, and within that discipline, we have the events of downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined (and now a team event).

The decathlon is considered an event, but it also has 10 phases – subsections of an event, in this case, the 10 different athletics events that constitute the decathlon. In other events, things like the finals, semi-finals, first round, qualifying rounds, etc., are considered phases of the event.

Finally, we have event units, which are actually subsections of phases. In the semi-final phase, there is semi-final 1, semi-final 2, etc., both of which are considered units.

So at the Olympic Winter Games, we have 7 sports officially considered as such by the IOC and the IFs – biathlon, bobsledding and skeleton, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating, and skiing.

It might seem that there are actually 15 sports at the Winter Olympics, and the media usually considers this to be the case, and we keep separate statistics for each sport/discipline as if they were all sports. However, the breakdown is as follows, with the sports, followed by their disciplines:

 

• Biathlon
• Bobsledding and Skeleton
  • Bobsledding
  • Skeleton
• Curling
• Ice Hockey
• Luge
• Skating
  • Figure Skating
  • Short-Track Speed Skating
  • Speed Skating
• Skiing
  • Alpine Skiing
  • Cross-Country Skiing
  • Freestyle Skiing
  • Nordic Combined
  • Ski Jumping
  • Snowboarding

 

It should also be noted that these sports are not immutable. Biathlon is considered a sport because it has its own IF, but that was not always so. It used to be governed by the UIMPB – the Union Internationale Moderne Pentathlon et Biathlon, which governed both modern pentathlon and biathlon.

Snowboarding is technically governed by the FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski), but it has had its own governing body, and when snowboarding was approved as an Olympic sport in 1998, there was great controversy whether it would come under the IOC umbrella governed by the FIS, which wanted to control it, or the World Snowboard Federation, or even variants of its predecessors, the International Snowboard Federation, or the National Association of Professional Snowboarders. Had it come onto the Olympic Program governed by its own IF, it would be called a sport, not a discipline.

So there you have it. There will be 7 sports contested at PyeongChang. Or maybe it’s 15. Or maybe it’s … We hope this has cleared things up for you.

Can the USA, or more specifically, Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, win all 5 women’s individual events in Alpine skiing at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics? And has anything like that ever been done before?

Embed from Getty Images

The Alpine events have been swept before, both by Austria, or rather Toni Sailer, in 1956 at Cortina d’Ampezzo; and in 1968 by France, or Jean-Claude Killy, at Grenoble. Other than those 2 dominating individual accomplishments, no other nation has ever swept the Alpine gold medals, and it has never been done on the women’s side, even with only 3 events, with the closest any nation or person came to that occurring in 1976 when Rosi Mittermaier (FRG) won gold in the downhill and slalom, and a silver in the giant slalom.

However, there have been 5 Alpine events at the Winter Olympics since 1988 in Calgary. At PyeongChang there will actually be an opportunity for a 6^th event, with a mixed team event, but here we are only looking at the 5 individual events.

Vonn is coming back from injuries and until later December did not look like she was ready to win any medals, but she has since won 2 races and is likely the favorite in the downhill. There have not been many Super-Gs for women this year, but Vonn did win one at Val d’Isere in December. Lara Gut (SUI) is likely favored, but Vonn, almost a pure speed skier, will certainly contend.

Embed from Getty Images
Lindsey Vonn

Shiffrin has been, until recently, purely a technical skier. In the women’s slalom she will be the heaviest Alpine favorite in PyeongChang, winning 7 World Cup slaloms already this season. She has also won 2 World Cup giant slaloms this year and will likely be favored in that event. Further, Shiffrin, has 2 podiums this year in downhill, an event she eschewed prior to this season, including a victory in December at Lake Louise. With that improved skill in the downhill, and her dominance in slalom, she is likely the favorite in the combined, although that event is harder to call, as it is so rarely raced in the World Cup.

Embed from Getty Images
Mikaela Shiffrin

So has any nation, much less 2 athletes from 1 nation, ever won all 5 individual Alpine Olympic events since 1988? No. The best national performances came in 1998 (Hilde Gerg and Katja Seizinger) and 2010 (Maria Höfl-Riesch and Viktoria Rebensburg) for Germany, which won 3 gold medals; and 2002 for Croatia, when Janica Kostelić won 3 races – slalom, giant slalom, and combined. Among the men, only Austria in 1998 won 3 individual Alpine gold medals, with Hermann Maier winning giant slalom and super-G, and Mario Reiter winning the combined.

So no nation has ever come close. It’s a longshot for Vonn and Shiffrin to win 5 golds, as it was for Eric Heiden in 1980, but it is possible. Can Lindsey and Mikaela do it? We shall see.

This week the IOC disqualified 12 more Russian Winter Olympians from the Sochi 2014 Games – Aleksey Voyevoda (BOB) on Monday, 18 December, and then yesterday, 11 more athletes were disqualified. This brings to 43 the number of Russians disqualified from Sochi since 1 November by the Oswald Commission findings. In all, 44 Russians have been disqualified from Sochi as Aleksandr Loginov (BIA) was DQed back in 2014.

Sonny and Cher once sang “The Beat Goes On” and Emerson, Lake & Palmer implored us to “Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.” But we think this ends it. The IOC examined 46 cases which was the number they said they had on their docket – exonerating 3 athletes and disqualifying 43. So, hopefully, we can summarize the “final” results of the medal standings from Sochi.

Here are the original medal standings from Sochi, again listing the NOC ranks by the US method (Medals-Gold-Silver-Bronze) and the European/International method (Gold-Silver-Bronze).

[table]

Original,NOC,G,S,B,TM,USRnk,EuRnk

23-Feb-14,RUS,13,11,9,33,1,1

23-Feb-14,USA,9,7,12,28,2,4

23-Feb-14,NOR,11,5,10,26,3,2

23-Feb-14,CAN,10,10,5,25,4,3

23-Feb-14,NED,8,7,9,24,5,5

23-Feb-14,GER,8,6,5,19,6,6

23-Feb-14,AUT,4,8,5,17,7,9

23-Feb-14,FRA,4,4,7,15,8,10

23-Feb-14,SWE,2,7,6,15,9,14

23-Feb-14,SUI,6,3,2,11,10,7

23-Feb-14,CHN,3,4,2,9,11,12

23-Feb-14,KOR,3,3,2,8,12,13

23-Feb-14,CZE,2,4,2,8,13,15

23-Feb-14,SLO,2,2,4,8,14,16

23-Feb-14,JPN,1,4,3,8,15,17

23-Feb-14,ITA,0,2,6,8,16,22

23-Feb-14,BLR,5,0,1,6,17,8

23-Feb-14,POL,4,1,1,6,18,11

23-Feb-14,FIN,1,3,1,5,19,18

23-Feb-14,GBR,1,1,2,4,20,19

23-Feb-14,LAT,0,2,2,4,21,23

23-Feb-14,AUS,0,2,1,3,22,24

23-Feb-14,UKR,1,0,1,2,23,20

23-Feb-14,SVK,1,0,0,1,24,21

23-Feb-14,CRO,0,1,0,1,25,25

23-Feb-14,KAZ,0,0,1,1,26,26

[/table]

And here is what the medals and standings look like today. The Russians have lost 4 gold medals, 8 silver, and 1 bronze medal, and dropped from 1^st in the medal standings (both systems), to either 4^th or 5^th, depending on the system you favor.

[table]

Current,NOC,G,S,B,TM,USRnk,EuRnk

23-Dec-17,USA,9,7,12,28,1,3

23-Dec-17,NOR,11,5,10,26,2,1

23-Dec-17,CAN,10,10,5,25,3,2

23-Dec-17,NED,8,7,9,24,4,5

23-Dec-17,RUS,9,3,8,20,5,4

23-Dec-17,GER,8,6,5,19,6,6

23-Dec-17,AUT,4,8,5,17,7,9

23-Dec-17,FRA,4,4,7,15,8,10

23-Dec-17,SWE,2,7,6,15,9,14

23-Dec-17,SUI,6,3,2,11,10,7

23-Dec-17,CHN,3,4,2,9,11,12

23-Dec-17,KOR,3,3,2,8,12,13

23-Dec-17,CZE,2,4,2,8,13,15

23-Dec-17,SLO,2,2,4,8,14,16

23-Dec-17,JPN,1,4,3,8,15,17

23-Dec-17,ITA,0,2,6,8,16,22

23-Dec-17,BLR,5,0,1,6,17,8

23-Dec-17,POL,4,1,1,6,18,11

23-Dec-17,FIN,1,3,1,5,19,18

23-Dec-17,GBR,1,1,2,4,20,19

23-Dec-17,LAT,0,2,2,4,21,23

23-Dec-17,AUS,0,2,1,3,22,24

23-Dec-17,UKR,1,0,1,2,23,20

23-Dec-17,SVK,1,0,0,1,24,21

23-Dec-17,CRO,0,1,0,1,25,25

23-Dec-17,KAZ,0,0,1,1,26,26

[/table]

Now, everyone asks who will get the re-allocated medals. As noted in previous posts, medal re-allocations are not automatic and take some time as the appeal goes thru CAS (it is virtually always denied) and then the IOC makes a decision about upgrades. In a perfect world, where everyone is automatically upgraded to the next higher position, after a disqualification, this is what the medal tables would look like.

[table]

Possible,NOC,G,S,B,TM,USRnk,EuRnk

Possible,NOR,11,7,11,29,1,1

Possible,USA,9,10,10,29,2,4

Possible,CAN,10,10,6,26,3,2

Possible,NED,8,8,8,24,4,5

Possible,RUS,10,3,7,20,5,3

Possible,GER,8,6,6,20,6,6

Possible,AUT,4,8,5,17,7,9

Possible,FRA,4,5,6,15,8,10

Possible,SWE,2,8,5,15,9,14

Possible,SUI,7,2,2,11,10,7

Possible,CHN,3,4,3,10,11,12

Possible,CZE,2,4,3,9,12,15

Possible,ITA,0,3,6,9,13,23

Possible,KOR,3,3,2,8,14,13

Possible,SLO,2,2,4,8,15,16

Possible,JPN,1,4,3,8,16,18

Possible,BLR,5,0,2,7,17,8

Possible,POL,4,1,1,6,18,11

Possible,LAT,2,1,3,6,19,17

Possible,FIN,1,3,1,5,20,19

Possible,GBR,1,1,3,5,21,20

Possible,AUS,0,2,1,3,22,24

Possible,UKR,1,1,0,2,23,21

Possible,SVK,1,0,0,1,24,22

Possible,CRO,0,1,0,1,25,25

Possible,KAZ,0,0,1,1,26,26

[/table]

Note that Russia actually goes up 1 gold medal and loses 1 bronze medal from the standings as of 23 December 2017. Why is that? Well, in the men’s 50 km cross-country, the gold and silver medalists, Aleksandr Legkov and Maksim Vylegzhanin, were disqualified. The bronze medalist was another Russian, Ilya Chernousov, as they originally had a medal sweep. So if medal upgrades are done automatically, Chernousov would actually move up from a bronze medal to a gold medal, with silver going to original 4^th-place finisher Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) and bronze going to original 5^th-place finisher Sergey Dolidovich (BLR).

But that ain’t gonna happen which is why the “perfect re-allocation” is a bit of specious reasoning. One cannot imagine the IOC upgrading another Russian, Chernousov, to the gold medal, given the Russian problems in Sochi, and if they do not do that, then Sundby and Dolidovich cannot move up onto the podium.

To further complicate matters, Sundby had a doping violation in January for salbutamol – the asthma inhaler that recently nabbed Chris Froome – so it’s unlikely he would be advanced either. There have also been rumors that Chernousov was a whistleblower on Legkov and Vylegzhanin to move up in the medals, which has not been taken kindly.

Here are the sports in which the Russians have lost their medals:

[table]

Sport,Class,G,S,B,TM

BIA,F,0,-2,0,-2

BOB,M,-2,0,0,-2

CCS,M,-1,-3,0,-4

LUG,M/X,0,-2,0,-2

SKE,M/F,-1,0,-1,-2

SSK,F,0,-1,0,-1

[/table]

My compadre, @OlympicStatman noted that Russia had now had 44 DQs from Sochi 2014, the most ever for a single Olympics. Here are the all-time records for most DQs at a single Olympics by NOC (top 10):

[table]

NOC,Year,###

RUS,2014,44

RUS,2012,37

RUS,2008,18

UKR,2012,13

BLR,2008,12

BLR,2012,11

TUR,2012,11

UKR,2008,8

KAZ,2008,7

AUT,2006,6

[/table]

Note that the top 9 places are from the Sochi 2014 Oswald Commission findings and the re-testing of samples from 2008 and 2012, with the only other one (10^th) the Austrian cross-country ski DQs from Torino in 2006.

To date, since the first disqualification in 1968, there have been 445 ADRVs (anti-doping rule violations) at the Olympics, with 72 different countries having at least 1. Here are the all-time ADRVs by NOC, listing the 35 NOCs with at least 3 violations. Some of these are not DQs but simply reprimands, and a few occurred in pre-Games testing so the athlete did not actually start at that Olympics.

[table]

NOC,###

RUS,117

BLR,29

UKR,28

USA,24

TUR,15

KAZ,14

AUT,12

BUL,11

GRE,10

CHN,9

GER,9

HUN,9

POL,8

CAN,7

ESP,7

MDA,7

AZE,6

BRA,6

ITA,6

ROU,6

ARM,5

SWE,5

UZB,5

IRL,4

LTU,4

MAR,4

MGL,4

COL,3

CUB,3

FRA,3

IND,3

KSA,3

LAT,3

NOR,3

TPE,3

[/table]

We think, and we hope, that this it for now. This has required us to make 239 major edits to the Olympic results from 2008-14, editing almost 12,000 results, and it has not been an easy task. It’s not finished yet, as there will be medal upgrades to come but for now we are up-to-date, and we think this is done until after PyeongChang.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, Happy New Year – and to all a Good Night.

Here is the complete list of the 105 Russians that have had ADRVs (adverse doping rule violations) at the Olympics. Not all were for documented PED usage, as several were for biological passport offenses (BPOs), and some of the drug offenses were not announced.

[table]

Name,Sex,Season,NOC,Sport,Year,HostCity

Nataliya Shekhodanova,F,S,RUS,ATH,1996,Atlanta

Marina Trandenkova,F,S,RUS,ATH,1996,Atlanta

Andrey Korneyev,M,S,RUS,SWI,1996,Atlanta

Zafar Gulyov,M,S,RUS,WRE,1996,Atlanta

Svetlana Pospelova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2000,Sydney

Olga Danilova,F,W,RUS,CCS,2002,Salt Lake City

Larisa Lazutina,F,W,RUS,CCS,2002,Salt Lake City

Anton Galkin,M,S,RUS,ATH,2004,Athínai

Irina Korzhanenko,F,S,RUS,ATH,2004,Athínai

Svetlana Krivelyova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2004,Athínai

Albina Khomich,F,S,RUS,WLT,2004,Athínai

Oleg Perepechonov,M,S,RUS,WLT,2004,Athínai

Olga Pyleva,F,W,RUS,BIA,2006,Torino

Pavel Korostelev,M,W,RUS,CCS,2006,Torino

Nataliya Matveyeva,F,W,RUS,CCS,2006,Torino

Nikolay Pankratov,M,W,RUS,CCS,2006,Torino

Mariya Abakumova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Inga Abitova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Denis Alekseyev,M,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Yuliya Chermoshanskaya,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Tatyana Chernova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Anna Chicherova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Tatyana Firova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Anastasiya Kapachinskaya,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Tatyana Lebedeva,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Aleksandr Pogorelov,M,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Yelena Slesarenko,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Yekaterina Volkova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Ivan Yushkov,M,S,RUS,ATH,2008,Beijing

Khadzhimurat Akkayev,M,S,RUS,WLT,2008,Beijing

Dmitry Lapikov,M,S,RUS,WLT,2008,Beijing

Marina Shainova,F,S,RUS,WLT,2008,Beijing

Nadezhda Yevstyukhina,F,S,RUS,WLT,2008,Beijing

Khasan Baroyev,M,S,RUS,WRE,2008,Beijing

Svetlana Terentyeva,F,W,RUS,ICH,2010,Vancouver

Yelena Arzhakova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Sergey Bakulin,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Mariya Bespalova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Valeriy Borchin,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Tatyana Chernova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Maksim Dyldin,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Vera Ganeyeva,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Yelizaveta Grechishnikova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Yuliya Gushchina,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Kirill Ikonnikov,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Vladimir Kanaykin,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Olga Kaniskina,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Gulfiya Khanafeyeva,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Sergey Kirdyapkin,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Yevgeniya Kolodko,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Yekaterina Kostetskaya,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Antonina Krivoshapka,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Andrey Krivov,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Tatyana Lysenko,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Yekaterina Martynova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Anna Nazarova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Darya Pishchalnikova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Mariya Savinova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Liliya Shobukhova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Dmitry Starodubtsev,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Viktoriya Valyukovich,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Igor Yerokhin,M,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Yuliya Zaripova,F,S,RUS,ATH,2012,London

Viktoriya Baranova,F,S,RUS,CYC,2012,London

Yekaterina Gnidenko,F,S,RUS,CYC,2012,London

Khadzhimurat Akkayev,M,S,RUS,WLT,2012,London

Apti Aukhadov,M,S,RUS,WLT,2012,London

Andrey Demanov,M,S,RUS,WLT,2012,London

Aleksandr Ivanov,M,S,RUS,WLT,2012,London

Svetlana Tsarukayeva,F,S,RUS,WLT,2012,London

Nataliya Zabolotnaya,F,S,RUS,WLT,2012,London

Besik Kudukhov,M,S,RUS,WRE,2012,London

Aleksandr Loginov,M,W,RUS,BIA,2014,Sochi

Yana Romanova,F,W,RUS,BIA,2014,Sochi

Olga Vilukina,F,W,RUS,BIA,2014,Sochi

Olga Zaytseva,F,W,RUS,BIA,2014,Sochi

Aleksandr Kasyanov,M,W,RUS,BOB,2014,Sochi

Ilvir Khuzin,M,W,RUS,BOB,2014,Sochi

Aleksey Negodaylo,M,W,RUS,BOB,2014,Sochi

Aleksey Pushkaryov,M,W,RUS,BOB,2014,Sochi

Olga Stulneva,F,W,RUS,BOB,2014,Sochi

Dmitry Trunenkov,M,W,RUS,BOB,2014,Sochi

Aleksandr Zubkov,M,W,RUS,BOB,2014,Sochi

Yevgeny Belov,M,W,RUS,CCS,2014,Sochi

Yuliya Chekalyova,F,W,RUS,CCS,2014,Sochi

Anastasiya Dotsenko,F,W,RUS,CCS,2014,Sochi

Yuliya Ivanova,F,W,RUS,CCS,2014,Sochi

Aleksandr Legkov,M,W,RUS,CCS,2014,Sochi

Aleksey Petukhov,M,W,RUS,CCS,2014,Sochi

Yevgeniya Shapovalova,F,W,RUS,CCS,2014,Sochi

Maksim Vylegzhanin,M,W,RUS,CCS,2014,Sochi

Sergey Chudinov,M,W,RUS,SKE,2014,Sochi

Yelena Nikitina,F,W,RUS,SKE,2014,Sochi

Mariya Orlova,F,W,RUS,SKE,2014,Sochi

Olga Potylitsyna,F,W,RUS,SKE,2014,Sochi

Aleksandr Tretyakov,M,W,RUS,SKE,2014,Sochi

Olga Fatkulina,F,W,RUS,SSK,2014,Sochi

Aleksandr Rumyantsev,M,W,RUS,SSK,2014,Sochi

Inna Dyubanok,F,W,RUS,ICH,2014,Sochi

Yekaterina Lebedeva,F,W,RUS,ICH,2014,Sochi

Yekaterina Pashkevich,F,W,RUS,ICH,2014,Sochi

Anna Shibanova,F,W,RUS,ICH,2014,Sochi

Yekaterina Smolentseva,F,W,RUS,ICH,2014,Sochi

Galina Skiba,F,W,RUS,ICH,2014,Sochi

Misha Aloyan,M,S,RUS,BOX,2016,Rio de Janeiro

[/table]

There are 64 women and 41 men.

Here is the breakdown by year and season:

[table]

Year,HostCity,Season,###

1996,Atlanta,S,4

2000,Sydney,S,1

2004,Athina,S,5

2008,Beijing,S,18

2012,London,S,37

2016,Rio de Janeiro,S,1

,Total,S,66

2002,Salt Lake City,W,2

2006,Torino,W,4

2010,Vancouver,W,1

2014,Sochi,W,32

,Total,W,39

[/table]

And here is the breakdown by sport:

[table]

Sport,###

Athletics,47

Cross-Country Skiing,13

Weightlifting,12

Bobsledding,7

Ice Hockey,7

Biathlon,5

Skeleton,5

Wrestling,3

Cycling,2

Speedskating,2

Boxing,1

Swimming,1

[/table]

There are likely still more to come. This is a huge number of doping positives for a nation that did not run a state-supported doping system, as Russian officials have insisted is the truth.

So Russia is threatening a potential Olympic Boycott if they are severely disciplined for doping transgressions at Sochi 2014. If required to compete as neutrals or under the Olympic Flag and Olympic Anthem, it is possible they will elect to boycott PyeongChang entirely.

There has not been an Olympic Boycott since the 1988 Seoul Olympics, also in Korea. That year, 6 nations elected not to compete, led by DPR Korea (North Korea), for obvious reasons. They were joined by Albania, Cuba, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, and The Seychelles, which led to then IOC Vice-President Dick Pound to utter one of his more memorable lines, “The Seychelles? Hell, it’s only a country at low tide anyway.”

The first Olympic Boycott occurred in 1952 when Chinese Taipei refused to compete at Helsinki in protest of mainland China being allowed to compete. Chinese Taipei was the only nation that boycotted Helsinki, but the China Problem would cause problems for the IOC until it was titularly solved in 1980 after negotiations by Lord Killanin.

In 1956 at Melbourne, six nations boycotted over two separate political / military actions. On 29 October Israel invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, causing Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq to withdraw from the Olympics in protest. On 4 November 1956 Soviet tanks invaded Budapest to put down an uprising there, with the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland withdrawing from Melbourne in protests. Hungary competed in Melbourne, although they likely had little choice, but scores of Hungarian athletes defected, many remaining in Australia, but also a number emigrating to the United States. Switzerland technically still competed at the 1956 Olympics, because they had already had athletes at the 1956 Equestrian Olympics held in Stockholm in June 1956.

There was a small boycott of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and it was due to a complex situation. In the summer of 1962, Jakarta hosted the Asian Games, but it refused to issue visas to athletes from Taiwan and Israel, for which, the IOC suspended the Indonesian NOC. In response Indonesian President Sukarno held an international multi-sport event in Jakarta in 1963 – called the Games of the New Emerging Forces, usually known as GANEFO. China competed at GANEFO, as did DPR Korea (North), and North Vietnam. Unfortunately, none of those nations were recognized by the athletics (IAAF) or swimming (FINA) federations. In response any athletes from Indonesia or North Korea who competed at GANEFO were banned by those federations from competing at Tokyo (China was not a recognized NOC at the time and could not compete). In retribution, Indonesia and North Korea both boycotted the Tokyo Olympics. There was one major loss from that, as by 1964 the North Korean runner Sin Kim-Dan had broken the world records in the 400 and 800 metres, although they were not recognized by the IAAF, and could have been favored for gold medals in those events, if allowed to compete.

There was no Olympic Boycott in 1968 or 1972, although those Games were hardly without problems.  In 1976 26 African nations elected not to compete in protest of the the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby squad playing on a tour of South Africa. South Africa was banned from most international sport at the time because of apartheid, and the African nations wanted New Zealand banned from the 1976 Olympics. The IOC pointed out that they had no jurisdiction over rugby football as a sport and refused to do so, and the African nations walked. For athletics fans, this prevented the big match-up they were anticipating between New Zealand’s John Walker and Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi in the 1,500 metres, which Walker went on to win in Bayi’s absence.

Chinese Taipei also boycotted the 1976 Olympics. This occurred when Canada at first refused to allow them to enter the country, as the Canadian government did not recognize the island nation.  This was in direct violation of the contract they had signed as the host nation to admit all eligible nations in honoring the Olympic Charter.  The Canadians acquiesced and allowed the Taiwanese to compete, but refused to allow them to do so under the title of the Republic of China, their official national name.  Several other countries protested and threatened withdrawal, notably the United States, if the Taiwanese athletes were not allowed to compete.  However, these protests were short-lived and the IOC finally gave in to the Canadian government.  Chinese Taipei watched the Olympics from afar, if at all.

The largest known Olympic Boycott occurred in 1980, when the United States government led a boycott of the 1980 Moskva Olympics after the December 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. President Jimmy Carter announced in early January that the United States would not compete if Soviet troops did not withdraw by 20 February 1980. They did not. US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance addressed the IOC Session at Lake Placid in February to announce the US Boycott, which greatly angered the IOC Members. With pressure from the US government, eventually 65 nations did not compete at the 1980 Moskva Olympics. It is actually difficult to say how many actually boycotted as various reasons are given for their absence, but suffice to say that 65 IOC member nations decided not to compete in Moskva.

And 1980 led to the Soviet Union not competing at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, convincing 14 nations under their influence to also not compete. The Soviet’s rationale was that they were not convinced that the USA could guarantee their safety in Los Angeles, but nobody believed their boycott was anything other than retribution for the 1980 US Boycott.

And then came the small 1988 Seoul boycott of 6 nations, since which time there as been no Olympic Boycott. Of note, there has never been a boycott of a Winter Olympics, which could possibly occur in PyeongChang if Russia elects to stay home in anger over doping penalties.

To date, Albania is the Olympic leader in boycotts, having stayed home 4 times (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988), with 3 nations having boycotted 3 times – Egypt, Ethiopia, and DPR Korea. DPR Korea (North) has no qualified athletes for PyeongChang as of 3 December 2017, after failing to enter their figure skating pairs duo in time, so technically they are not boycotting if they do not compete in PyeongChang. The IOC would like them there and there are some negotiations ongoing to see what can be done.

Will Russia compete in PyeongChang? Will North Korea? We await Einstein’s space-time continuum to work its magic and tell us the answer.

For those of you keeping score at home, here are the 19 Russians disqualified from the Sochi Winter Olympics to date, listing, in order: name, gender, sport, event(s), place(s), medal(s) (if any), violation details, source, and date.

• Aleksandr Legkov; M; CCS; 50K / Skiathlon / 4x10relay; 1 / 10 / 2; Gold/Silver; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 1 Nov 2017
• Yevgeny Belov; M; CCS; 15K / Skiathlon; 25 / 18; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 1 Nov 2017
• Maksim Vylegzhanin; M; CCS; 50K / Skiathlon / Team sprint / 4x10relay; 2 / 4 / 2 / 2; Silverx3; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 9 Nov 2017
• Aleksey Petukhov; M; CCS; Sprint; 8; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 9 Nov 2017
• Yuliya Ivanova; F; CCS; 10K / 30K / 4x5relay / Team sprint; 17 / 30 / 6 / 6; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 9 Nov 2017
• Yevgeniya Shapovalova; F; CCS; Sprint; 28; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 9 Nov 2017
• Aleksandr Tretyakov; M; SKE; Skeleton; 1; Gold; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 22 Nov 2017
• Yelena Nikitina; F; SKE; Skeleton; 3; Bronze; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 22 Nov 2017
• Olga Potylitsyna; F; SKE; Skeleton; 5; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 22 Nov 2017
• Mariya Orlova; F; SKE; Skeleton; 6; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 22 Nov 2017
• Aleksandr Zubkov; M; BOB; 2-man / 4-man; 1 / 1; Goldx2; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 24 Nov 2017
• Olga Stulneva; F; BOB; 2-man; 9; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 24 Nov 2017
• Aleksandr Rumyantsev; M; SSK; 5K / Pursuit; 11 / 6; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 24 Nov 2017
• Olga Fatkulina; F; SSK; 500 / 1000 / 1500; 2 / 4 / 9; Silver; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 24 Nov 2017
• Olga Vilukina; F; BIA; 7.5 / Pursuit / 12.5 / Relay / Mixed Relay; 2 / 7 / 21 / 2 / 4; Silverx2; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 27 Nov 2017
• Yana Romanova; F; BIA; 7.5 / Pursuit / 15 / Relay; 19 / 23 / 53 / 2; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 27 Nov 2017
• Dmitry Trunenkov; M; BOB; 4-man; 1; Gold; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 27 Nov 2017
• Aleksey Negodaylo; M; BOB; 4-man; 1; Gold; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 27 Nov 2017
• Sergey Chudinov; M; SKE; Skeleton; 5; ; ADRV based on Oswald Commission findings; DQed from all future OG/OWG.; IOC News; 27 Nov 2017