Russia at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Russia at the 2016 Summer Olympics
IOC code	RUS
NOC	Russian Olympic Committee
Website	www.olympic.ru (in Russian)
in Rio de Janeiro
Competitors	282 in 26 sports
Flag bearers	Sergey Tetyukhin (opening)[1] Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina (closing)
Medals Ranked 4th	Gold 19 Silver 17 Bronze 20 Total 56
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020–2024
Other related appearances
Russian Empire (1900–1912)  Soviet Union (1952–1988)  Unified Team (1992)  Olympic Athletes from Russia (2018)  ROC (2020)  Individual Neutral Athletes (2024)

The Russian Federation competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was Russia's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics as an independent nation.

On 18 July 2016, an independent investigation commissioned by World Anti-Doping Agency concluded that it was shown "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the RUSADA, the Ministry of Sport, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Centre of Sports Preparation of the National Teams of Russia had "operated for the protection of doped Russian athletes" within a "state-directed failsafe system" using "the disappearing positive [test] methodology." According to the McLaren Report, the Disappearing Positive Methodology operated from "at least late 2011 to August 2015." It was used on 643 positive samples, a number that the authors consider "only a minimum" due to limited access to Russian records. Based on these findings the International Olympic Committee called for an emergency meeting to consider banning Russia from the Summer Olympics.^[2]

On 24 July, the IOC rejected WADA's recommendation to ban Russia from the Summer Olympics and announced that a decision would be made by each sport federation with each positive decision having to be approved by a CAS arbitrator. On 7 August 2016, the IOC cleared 278 athletes, while 111 were removed because of the scandal.^[3]

On 7 August 2016, the International Paralympic Committee announced that it had voted unanimously to ban the entire Russian Paralympic team from competing at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, in the wake of a larger scandal that exposed the participation of Russian Olympic and Paralympic athletes in a state-sponsored doping program.

On 8 December 2016, silver medalist Misha Aloyan was found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for Tuaminoheptane, a specified stimulant, prohibited in-competition under S6 on the WADA Prohibited List, during an in-competition doping control on 21 August 2016. The results obtained by the athlete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games were disqualified.^[4]

On 9 December 2016, Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren published the second part of his independent report. The investigation claimed that from 2011 to 2015, more than 1,000 Russian competitors in various sports (including summer, winter, and Paralympic sports) were involved in a cover-up.^[5][6][7][8] Emails indicate that athletes who tested positive for banned substances included five blind powerlifters, who may have been given drugs without their knowledge, and a fifteen-year-old.^[9]