![A woman holds a sign with the text "Bloody Olympics" during a march in memory of the hundreds of Ukrainian athletes](https://assets.kyivindependent.com/content/images/2024/07/GettyImages-2161898011.jpg)
Long an Olympic powerhouse, Russia has the smallest participation in 30 years
Russia, as well as the Soviet Union before it, has long sought to use international sporting spectacles as an opportunity to demonstrate the nation's athletic prowess and improve its prestige on the global stage. The 2014 Winter Olympics, held in Sochi, Russia, just days before unmarked Russian troops began the