The most popular sport in Russia is soccer. According to Yandex search analysis results rating of the most popular sports among Russians: "Football topped the list of the most popular sports in Russia" with 5 to 10 million requests. Ice hockey came in second with handball, basketball, futsal, boxing, auto racing, volleyball, athletics, tennis, and chess rounding out the top ten rankings. Other popular sports include bandy, biathlon, figure skating, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts, rugby union, and skiing.
The Russian Olympic Committee is the National Olympic Committee representing Russia. Its president is Stanislav Pozdnyakov. On 12 October 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The Russian Paralympic Committee is the National Paralympic Committee representing Russia.
Russia has competed at the Paralympic Games as different teams in its history. The nation competed as part of the Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer and Winter Games, while after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992. The nation competed for a first time as Russia at the 1994 Winter Paralympics, and after that participated in every summer and winter edition up until the 2014 Winter Paralympics.
The 2021 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 27th event hosted by the International Handball Federation and held in Egypt from 13 to 31 January 2021.
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2021 were held from 8–21 February in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. In May 2020, the Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) and the event organizing committee asked the International Ski Federation (FIS) to postpone the event until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the request was rejected by FIS, and the organizers then moved forward with plans for 2021.
The Biathlon World Championships 2021 took place in Pokljuka, Slovenia, from 9 to 21 February 2021.
The 2021 IHF World Women's Handball Championship, the 25th event by the International Handball Federation, was held in Spain from 1 to 19 December 2021. On 18 October 2018, at a congress in Doha, Qatar, the IHF announced that the World Championship would be expanded from 24 teams to 32 teams from 2021 onwards.
Systematic doping of Russian athletes has resulted in 51 Olympic medals stripped from Russia, four times the number of the next highest, and more than 30% of the global total. Russia has the most competitors who have been caught doping at the Olympic Games in the world, with more than 150.
Prior to the 2019 decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Russian Federation was expected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which took place from 23 July to 8 August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have been the country's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics as an independent nation; however, their athletes were entered by and represented the "Russian Olympic Committee", using the acronym "ROC", due to the consequences of the doping scandal in the country. The team finished fifth in the medal standings with 20 gold and 71 total medals, winning 1 gold medal and 15 total medal more than five years prior. The Soviet Union/Unified Team/Russia/ROC never finished below fifth since they started competing in 1952.
The 2021 European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2021, was the 38th edition of the continental tournament in women's basketball, sanctioned by the FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Strasbourg, France and Valencia, Spain between 17 and 27 June 2021. It was the third time to be hosted by multiple countries. The tournament also served as part of European qualification for the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, with the top six nations advancing to the qualifying tournaments. The final were planned to be held at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris but moved to the Pavelló Municipal Font de San Lluís, in Valencia.
Russian athletes competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022, under the "Russian Olympic Committee" designation due to the consequences of the doping scandal in the country.
The 2021 50th FIL World Luge Championships were held from 29 to 31 January 2021 in Königssee, Germany. They were originally awarded to Calgary and Vancouver, Canada, but were moved because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 IBSF World Championships was held in Altenberg, Germany from 5 to 14 February 2021. They were originally awarded to Lake Placid but were moved because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 42nd FIS Nordic World Ski Championships were held from 24 February to 7 March 2021 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was the third time that the World Championships have been held in Oberstdorf, having previously hosted the event in 1987 and 2005.
The 2021 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships were held in Idre, Rogla, Almaty and Aspen with the ski and snowboard cross events held in Idre from 11 to 13 February 2021, the parallel and giant slalom snowboard in Rogla from 1 to 2 March 2021, moguls and aerials held in Almaty from 8 to 11 March 2021, slopestyle, halfpipe and big air events of both Snowboard and Freeski in Aspen from 10 to 16 March 2021. Calgary was selected as a replacement of China to host the halfpipe, big air and slopestyle events, but on 20 January 2021, they pulled out.
The 2021 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships were held from 5 to 7 March 2021 in Dordrecht, Netherlands.
The 2021 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships were held between 11 and 14 February 2021, at Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Russian athletes competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics under the acronym of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC), using a flag depicting a one-off emblem representing the committee.
Japan (4th title)
