Verdict (Updated)

The International Olympic Committee handed down its decision this afternoon on Russia’s participation in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, following allegations of doping at the 2014 Games.  The verdict, briefly: Russian athletes may participate, but only under a neutral flag and anthem (the will be officially known as “Olympic Athletes from Russia”).

So what now?  And particularly, “what now” for the hockey side of things, which is after all the focus of this blog.  Well, we have far more questions than answers at the moment, all of them variations on the theme of “what happens now?” and here are a few of them (answers will be provided as I get them):

Will Russia participate in the Games at all?  That we may find out tomorrow. (h/t to Tomáš Vorčák)   There will be considerable pressure to boycott the games entirely, so we will see which way things go.  If we don’t have get a definitive word tomorrow, then December 12th (next Tuesday) appears to be the day.   Russian Olympic Committee head Alexander Zhukov also mentioned the possibility that the Russian team could have its “neutral” status removed by the end of the Pyeongchang competition, and could close the Games under its own flag (see preceding link), which could serve as an inducement to attend — once again, we will see.

Update: Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday:

“Without any doubt, we will not declare any blockade, we will not prevent our Olympians from taking part.”

Will the KHL release its players for the Games?  That will apparently be decided at a KHL Board of Directors meeting next week (h/t to Tomáš Vorčák).  If Russia does decide to take part in the Olympics under the neutral flag, there should, and I say “should,” be no problem here.  If, however, Russia decides on a boycott, things get more complicated.  With NHL players sitting these Games out, it is not just the Russian team that will be looking to the KHL for its top players.  Were the league to refuse to release its foreign players to their respective national teams (and the Russian State Duma recently proposed a law allowing them to do just that), it could cause some problems with the International Ice Hockey Federation.  Which brings us to…

How will the IIHF respond to today’s decision?  Almost alone among the individual international sports federations, the IIHF has been staunch and vociferous (and correct, in my opinion) in its opposition to any collective punishment, and in its support for Russian athletes’ right to attend the Games and to do so under their own flag (a number of national  hockey federations, have voiced similar support).  That battle has been only half won, after today’s IOC decision, and it will be very interesting to see what the IIHF has to say.  Update: it looks like we get an answer in the day or two:

Just got off the phone with IIHF president Rene Fasel, who says it’s “too early” to make any declarations on where we go from here. More from Fasel: “We need 24 to 48 hours to see where things are at. This is the first time in history we’ve had to deal with something like this…

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 5, 2017

More Fasel: “We will see where things are tomorrow, in the next 48 hours. We have to see how Russia will react. We need to talk to our (IIHF) people, we need to talk to the Russians. It’s too early make statements.”

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 5, 2017

Other questions as they occur to me, and answers as I get them