PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — The first time that “Olympiakos Ymnos,” or the Olympic hymn, was played in front of a large audience, in Athens in 1896, the Greek composer Spyridon Samaras conducted a massive orchestra and a large choir in a performance of the song he had written.

“When the trumpet gave the signal and Samaras, a chubby fellow, lifted his baton,” another Greek composer recalled, “the Olympic hymn with those grandiose chords vibrated the national string in the souls of the myriad spectators who have filled the stadium and with national pride clapped maniacally the resurgence of the ancient Olympic Games.”

The song has not stirred such passion since. And it probably will not do so when it is used as an audible stand-in for the Russian national anthem at the Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea. It might just stir confusion.

The Russians, caught in a doping scandal, were stripped of key identifying markers at these Winter Games, such as their national uniforms and their flag. And their anthem.