Olympia 2026: IOC allows Russian athletes to

Russian athletes are only allowed to compete under a neutral flag at the Winter Olympics next year. This was announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The same provisions would apply as at the summer games in Paris last year, IOC President Kirsty Coventry said at a press conference after the executive meeting in Milan.

As a result, Russia is denied participation in team competitions such as in ice hockey and curling at the games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The same restrictions apply to athletes from the country of Russian ally of Belarus. Whether individual athletes from both countries may even be in the individual disciplines regulate the responsible world associations on their own.

The background to the sanctions against Russia and Belarus is the war of attack against Ukraine, which has been going on for more than three years. The IOC also suspended Russia’s Olympic Committee because it took the four annexed Ukrainian areas of Donetsk, Cherson, Luhansk and Saporischschja. The IOC rated this as a violation of the Olympic Charter.

Coventry also announced that it would make an IOC position on the many conflicts worldwide in the near future. Sport has to work more than ever for peace, the former swimmer explained.

After the decision of the umbrella organization, participants from Russia and Belarus may not be played by the hymns of their countries at the winter games. The wearing and showing national symbols on the Olympic sites are prohibited. The medals won by Russians and Belarussia are not listed in the medal mirror.

It can be expected that, as in Paris, a small number of athletes from the two countries will be there in Italy. The international ice skating union allows Russians in figure skating, ice skating and shorttrack under conditions for the qualification competitions. It was similar in ski mountaineering.

In contrast, the world associations for bob, skeleton and tobogganing prohibited a start in the Olympic ice channel of Cortina. Also in alpine skiing, ski jumping, cross -country skiing and in the Nordic combination, admission of Russians and Belarussia at the responsible World Association FIS was not an issue.

According to the World Association, a participation in neutral athletes is excluded in biathlon. A starting release for Russian athletes would be particularly delicate for Russian athletes because of the guidance of a weapon in the external impact.

Already at the beginning of the year it was heard from several winter sports organizations that the IOC had increased the pressure to clear the way for a return of Russians and Belarussia as a neutral starter based on the model of the Paris games. Russia is one of the most successful winter sports nations in Olympic history. Because of the scandal for state -organized doping at the winter games in 2014 in Sochi, Russian athletes were allowed to be part of Pyeongchang in 2018 and only under conditions in Beijing in 2022.