Cape Town - Last Friday, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned the Russian track and field team from competing in the 2016 Olympic Games.
The ban was instilled after widespread doping claims reported that 52 athletes had failed tests this year alone.
So in light of the Russian doping scandal, here are four countries which was once banned from the Olympic Games:
1. Germany
The 1920 Olympic Games held in Antwerp, Belgium saw five countries banned due to their involvement in the First World War. These countries were Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Hungary and Germany.
However, Germany was prohibited from returning four years later (while the others came back) for the 1924 Paris Games and again for the third time at the 1948 London Games, where they were barred for their participation in the Second World War.
2. Japan
Along with Germany, Japan was also banned from the 1948 London Games, as they were one of Germany’s allies in the Second World War.
3. South Africa
South Africa was forbidden from competing in the 1964 Tokyo Games, as they refused to renounce the apartheid regime. According to the BBC, although South Africa was prepared to send seven non-whites out of their 62-person team, it had not deterred the International Olympic Committee’s decision. SA was subsequently barred from the Olympics until the 1992 Barcelona Games.
4. Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
Four days prior to the commencement of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe) was expelled from participating, as other African countries threatened to pull out if Rhodesia took part. The grounds for their demands were that they saw Rhodesia as an unrecognised state and governed by white minority.