Athletes from Belarus began their Olympic participation at the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland, as part of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991, Belarus, along with four of the other fourteen former Soviet republics, competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics as the Unified Team. Later in 1992, Belarus joined eleven republics to compete as the Unified Team at the Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain. Two years later, Belarus competed for the first time as an independent nation in the 1994 Winter Olympics, held in Lillehammer, Norway.
Russia, referred to by its formal name; the Russian Federation, by the International Olympic Committee, has competed at the modern Olympic Games on many occasions, but as different nations in its history. As the Russian Empire, the nation first competed at the 1900 Games, and returned again in 1908 and 1912. After the Russian revolution in 1917, and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, it would be thirty years until Russian athletes once again competed at the Olympics, as the Soviet Union at the 1952 Summer Olympics. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992, and finally returned once again as Russia at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
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 was 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.
Belarus made its Paralympic Games début at the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer. It has participated in every subsequent edition of both the Summer and Winter Paralympics.
The 2022 Winter Paralympics, commonly known as Beijing 2022, were an international winter multi-sport parasports event held in Beijing, China from 4 to 13 March 2022. This was the 13th Winter Paralympic Games, as administered by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Athletes have competed as independent Olympians at the Olympic Games for various reasons, including political transition, international sanctions, suspensions of National Olympic Committees, and compassion. Independent athletes have come from North Macedonia, East Timor, South Sudan and Curaçao following geopolitical changes in the years before the Olympics, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a result of international sanctions, and from India and Kuwait due to the suspensions of their National Olympic Committees. Starting from 2018, athletes from Russia have competed under a neutral designation for various reasoms, mainly mass violations of anti-doping rules and since 2022, the Belarus-assisted invasion of Ukraine.
Russia was originally scheduled to compete during the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in what would have been its sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Paralympics as an independent nation. Russia had qualified athletes in ten sports.
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.
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.
The Para ice hockey competition of the 2022 Winter Paralympics was held at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium, China, from 5 to 13 March 2022. A total of seven teams competed in the mixed team tournament.
The United States competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, China which took place between 4–13 March 2022. In total, 65 athletes competed in six sports. It was the second largest delegation at the Games after the host China. Para ice hockey is represented by the most athletes, with 17.
The wheelchair curling competition of the 2022 Winter Paralympics was held from 5 to 12 March 2022 at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre in Beijing, China.
The opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Paralympics took place on 4 March 2022 at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China. The Games were opened by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of China.
The closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Paralympics took place at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China, on March 13, 2022.
The medal table of the 2022 Winter Paralympics ranks the participating National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) by the number of gold medals that are won by their athletes during the competition.
Ukraine competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, China which took place between 4–13 March 2022. In total, 20 athletes competed in two sports. Ukraine finished in second place in the medal table which was their best result at the Winter Paralympics since competing under the Ukrainian flag at the 1998 Winter Paralympics in Nagano, Japan.
Individual Neutral Athletes is the name used to represent approved individual Russian and Belarusian athletes at the 2024 Summer Olympics, after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned those nations' previous designations due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that continued into the duration of the games. The IOC country code is AIN, from the French athlètes individuels neutres.
