Prior to the 2019 decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Russian Federation was expected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which took place from 23 July to 8 August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was the outcome of a decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 9 December 2019, banning Russia from all international sport for four years, after it had been found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities with a goal of protecting athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme.

It would also be allowed to use team uniforms featuring the logo of the Russian Olympic Committee, or the acronym "ROC" would be added.

[7][8] On 22 April 2021, the replacement for Russia's anthem was approved by the IOC, after an earlier choice of the patriotic Russian war song "Katyusha" was rejected.

[11] With the usage of traditional Japanese characters order, named Gojūon,[clarification needed] ROC is not translated into Japanese script and was pronounced āru ō shī, so it placed 77th in the parade, and not as scheduled just after the Refugee Olympic Team (ai ō shī) as had been announced.

[15] ROC fielded a squad of eight artistic swimmers to compete in the women's duet and team events, by winning the 2019 LEN European Champions Cup.

Four Russian badminton players have been entered in the following events into the Olympic tournament based on the BWF Race to Tokyo Rankings.

[20] Russian canoeists qualified one boat for each of the following classes through the 2019 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain.

[21] Russian canoeists qualified five boats in each of the following distances for the Games through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary.

[22] Meanwhile, two additional boats were awarded to the Russian squad each in the men's K-1 200 m and women's C-2 500 m, respectively, with a top-two national finish at the 2021 European Canoe Sprint Qualifying Regatta.

[23] Qualification Legend: FA = Qualify to final (medal); FB = Qualify to final B (non-medal) ROC has entered a squad of four riders (three men and one woman) to compete in their respective Olympic road races, by virtue of their top 50 national finish (for men) and her top 100 individual finish (for women) in the UCI World Ranking.

[26] Meanwhile, two eventing spots were awarded to the Russian equestrians based on the results in the individual FEI Olympic rankings for Group C (Central and Eastern Europe).

[31] ROC qualified a squad of rhythmic gymnasts for the group all-around by virtue of a top-three finish at the 2018 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

[32] Two more rhythmic gymnasts were added to the roster by finishing in the top sixteen of the individual all-around at the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.

[33] ROC qualified one gymnast each for the men's and women's trampoline by finishing in the top eight, respectively, at the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

Alexander Lifanov and Adelina Ibatullina confirmed places each in the men's and women's event, respectively, with the former and the latter finishing seventh among those eligible for Olympic qualification at the 2019 European Championships in Bath, England.

[44][45] M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race Russian shooters achieved quota places for the following events by virtue of their best finishes at the 2018 ISSF World Championships, the 2019 ISSF World Cup series, European Championships or Games, and European Qualifying Tournament, as long as they obtained a minimum qualifying score (MQS) by May 31, 2020.

[47] Meanwhile, Viktoria Meshkova and Alexey Rubtsov completed the Russian sport climbing roster for the rescheduled Games, by winning the gold medal and securing an outright berth at the 2020 IFSC European Championships in Moscow.

Rio 2016 Olympian Polina Mikhailova scored a third-match final triumph to secure one of the five available places in the women's singles, while Kirill Skachkov notched the last of four men's singles spots with a repechage final victory at the 2021 ITTF World Qualification Tournament in Doha, Qatar.

[52][53] Meanwhile, London 2012 Olympian Yana Noskova rounded out the nation's roster by winning the third-stage final match at the European Qualification Tournament in Odivelas, Portugal.

Russian men's beach volleyball pair qualified for the Olympics by winning the gold medal and securing an outright berth at the 2019 FIVB World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.

The ROC women's water polo team qualified for the Olympics by advancing to the final match and securing an outright berth at the 2020 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary.