.RUSSIA IS ACTUALLY AN Olympic goliath. The country has actually finished near the top of the medal table at every summertime Olympics because 1984, when it chose not to participate in protest at the video games being actually held in Los Angeles. Even at the Tokyo games in 2021, when the Russian staff was actually officially outlawed, athletes competing under the banner of the Russian Olympic Board managed to win 71 medals and finish fifth. Yet this effectiveness will certainly not be repeated in Paris. Merely a few of Russians were actually welcomed a lot of them have actually refused to contend. Why?