<p>LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Russian gold medalists at the Tokyo Olympics are set to hear music by Tchaikovsky as the replacement for their national anthem, which has been banned as punishment for state-backed doping.</p>
<p>The <a href="Principles-implementation-CAS-WADA-Rusada.pdf (olympic.org)">International Olympic Committee said Thursday</a> it approved Piano Concerto No. 1 by Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky for use at the Tokyo Games this year and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.</p>
<p>It was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-tokyo-moscow-stanislav-pozdnyakov-russia-f1e9722a0102917f6a52e0ec7c646622">proposed by Russian Olympic officials </a> after their first choice, the patriotic folk song “Katyusha,” was blocked by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It was previously used at skating world championships this year.</p>
<p>A CAS ruling last year banned Russia’s flag, anthem and team name from the next two Olympics in the latest punishment for an extensive doping program and cover-ups, including at previous Olympic Games and testing laboratories in Moscow and Sochi.</p>
<p>The team will be known by the acronym “ROC,” for Russian Olympic Committee, in Tokyo and Beijing. </p>
<p>It will use the flag of the country’s Olympic committee rather than the national tricolor, though <a href="https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-tokyo-moscow-stanislav-pozdnyakov-russia-f1e9722a0102917f6a52e0ec7c646622">official team uniforms unveiled</a> last week are in the white, blue and red colors associated with the national flag. </p>
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