Despite serving a two-year ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency; the country of Russia hasn’t let that stop them from dominating at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Due to the ban, Russia must compete under the Russian Olympic Committee name or ROC.
Even through the ban, the women of Russia have definitely made their country proud; dominating in most of their events. These athletes have truly shown up to make a statement.
The first statement came in the first ROC gold after Vitalina Batsarashkina set an Olympic record of 240.3 points, to take home the gold in the 10 m air pistol competition. It was an upgrade for the 24-year-old Batsarashkina who took home silver in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
In Foil Individual Fencing, Russian athletes won two medals. Defending champion Inna Deriglazova took home silver, after a hard-fought battle against American Lee Kiefer. Larisa Korobeynikova inched out a victory against Italy’s Alice Volpi to take home bronze.
ROC won another Silver medal in the 57- Kilogram taekwondo competition. Tatiana Minina was edged by her 18-year-old opponent, United State’s athlete Anastasija Zolotic. Zolotic’s win over Minina made her the first female to ever taekwondo gold for the USA.
In Women’s Gymnastics, Russia took home its first gold medal in the event since the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. It was a double gold event for the country, as Russia also took home the gold in Men’s Gymnastics.
Russia ended a dominant USA run; who have taken home gold in the event in the past two Olympics.
On Wednesday morning; the 3×3 Women’s Basketball ROC team captured silver in the Olympics game’s first-ever 3×3 competition. Russia would come up short to team USA (18-15).
Currently, Russia is in fourth place in the Olympic medal count with 7 golds, 10 silver and 6 bronze. With more events to come, expect to see Russia at the podium in Tokyo.
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