Russia Banned from Olympics

[SaveByRichter35]

Quote

Russia’s Olympic team has been barred from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The country’s government officials are forbidden to attend, its flag will not be displayed at the opening ceremony and its anthem will not sound. Any athletes from Russia who receive special dispensation to compete will do so as individuals wearing a neutral uniform, and the official record books will forever show that Russia won zero medals.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/sports/olympics/ioc-russia-winter-olympics.html

More in the link

[coopaloop1234]

Holy Moly.

Has this ever occurred at the Olympics before?

[IPv6Freely]

Nope. 

But yay! Good on IOC for doing something right for once!

[estogoalie]

I read somewhere that if this happened, Russia was going to block all KHL players from attending.  So if there's no NHL or KHL players there, things are gonna get interesting. Next best leagues are probably Sweden an Finland, so could be a Nordic showdown.

[estogoalie]

...and I guess we can pick up some Team Russia jerseys pretty cheap now? LOL

[Murray]

27 minutes ago, estogoalie said:

I read somewhere that if this happened, Russia was going to block all KHL players from attending.  So if there's no NHL or KHL players there, things are gonna get interesting. Next best leagues are probably Sweden an Finland, so could be a Nordic showdown.

The KHL can't legally bar players of non-Russian nationality from competing for their home countries, but teams can - and likely will - impose harsh sanctions and contract terminations on players who do. A bad situation all around, but Russia has no one to blame but themselves.

[estogoalie]

Just read KHL will let players go to the Olympics

[RichMan]

Back in the news, sad but unavoidable outcome maybe? Tretiak leaves IIHF council.

http://aroundtherings.com/site/A__102857/Title__Ice-Hockey-Legend-Leaves-IIHF-Council----Federation-Focus/292/Articles

[SaveByRichter35]

@RichMan was a GSBBer, he clearly searched lol