We are a couple days removed since the end of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics -- many storylines emerging from South Korea, not least of which was the ongoing saga with Russia, and their doping ban. Athletes from the country were not allowed to participate. But competitors deemed to be clean, were able to enter the Games, but as neutrals, and not under the Russian flag. The stigma surrounding the team did not help with two of those neutrals testing positive for banned substances. One former prominent athlete from the Russian federation, Alexei Nemov, a 12-time Olympic medallist understands that the perception of his country needs to change -- and believes that the upcoming World Cup, to be staged later this year can help.

ALEXEI NEMOV 12-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALIST "I think this is a common problem, a problem for all world sports. I think this is a political problem, mostly, and we need to unite our efforts to solve this problem collectively, for sport to be as clean as possible – this is the most important thing at the moment. I believe this can be solved."  

In Pyeongchang, the nation was competing as the Olympic Athletes from Russia, and saw a curler and a bobsledder fail drug tests. That did not help the country's image. It's been alleged the Russian federation masterminded a massive doping ring at the 2014 Sochi Games, and thus that is why they have been banned from competing at the Olympics. Because of their punishment, Russia recorded their lowest ever gold-medal tally at a Winter Olympics after winning just two.