A number of notable controversies and concerns associated with the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, emerged which were the subject of public debate and media commentary.
Russian doping
Official sanctions
On 5 December 2017, the IOC announced that the Russian Olympic Committee had been suspended effective immediately from the 2018 Winter Olympics. Athletes who had no previous drug violations and a consistent history of drug testing were to be allowed to compete under the Olympic Flag as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia" (OAR). Under the terms of the decree, Russian government officials were barred from the Games, and neither the country's flag nor anthem would be present. The Olympic Flag and Olympic Anthem will be used instead, and on 20 December 2017 the IOC proposed an alternate logo for the uniforms (seen at right). IOC President Thomas Bach said that "after following due process [the IOC] has issued proportional sanctions for this systematic manipulation while protecting the clean athletes."
As of January 2018, the IOC had sanctioned 43 Russian athletes from the 2014 Winter Olympics and banned them from competing in the 2018 edition and all other future Olympic Games as part of the Oswald Commission. All but one of these athletes appealed against their bans to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The court overturned the sanctions on 28 athletes meaning that their Sochi medals and results are reinstated but decided that there was sufficient evidence against 11 athletes to uphold their Sochi sanctions. The IOC said in a statement that "the result of the CAS decision does not mean that athletes from the group of 28 will be invited to the Games. Not being sanctioned does not automatically confer the privilege of an invitation" and that "this [case] may have a serious impact on the future fight against doping". The IOC found it important to note that CAS Secretary General "insisted that the CAS decision does not mean that these 28 athletes are innocent" and that they would consider an appeal against the court's decision. The court also decided that none of the 39 athletes should be banned from all future Olympic Games, but only the 2018 Games. Three Russian athletes are still waiting for their hearing, which will be conducted after the 2018 Games. After the CAS decision was announced, the four-time Olympic champion in biathlon Alexander Tikhonov demanded to call to account the President of the IOC for "false accusations". Russia's sports minister Pavel Kolobkov wanted the IOC to ensure the participation of these Russian athletes at the Olympics in Pyeongchang.
An original pool of 500 Russian athletes was put forward for consideration for the games and 111 were immediately removed from consideration. The remaining athletes had to meet pre-games conditions such as further pre-games tests and reanalysis from stored samples. Only if these requirements are met, can the athletes be considered for invitation to the games. None of the athletes who had been sanctioned by the Oswald Commission were still in the pool. The final number of neutral Russian athletes invited to compete was 169.
On 22 February Alexander Krushelnitskiy of the Olympic Athletes from Russia team was stripped of his bronze medal in mixed doubles curling after testing positive for meldonium.
Reaction in Russia
In the past, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, and other officials had said that it would be a humiliation for Russia if its athletes were not allowed to compete under the Russian flag. However, his spokesman later said that no boycott had been discussed. After the IOC decision was announced, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, announced that no Chechen athletes would participate under a neutral flag. On 6 December, Putin stated that the Russian government would not prevent any athletes from participating at the Games as individuals, but there were calls from other politicians for a boycott. Gennady Zyuganov, a leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, proposed to send fans with a Soviet Victory Banner. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov has said that the United States "fears honest competition", affirming Vladimir Putin's position who had said that the United States used its influence within the International Olympic Committee to "orchestrate the doping scandal". According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, a popular Russian newspaper, 86% of the Russian population oppose participating in the Olympics under a neutral flag, and many Russian fans attended the Games wearing the Russian colours and chanting "Russia!" in unison, in an act of defiance against the ban.