As Olympics decision looms, IOC offers guidance for Russian athletes

The recommendations on Russian and Belarusian athletes relate only to international competitions but not the 2024 Olympics, where a separate decision will be taken at a later date.

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday issued recommendations for the gradual return to international competitions for Russian and Belarusian athletes, with president Thomas Bach saying their participation “works” despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The IOC Executive Board’s recommendations relate only for the return of those athletes in international competitions but not the 2024 Olympics where a separate decision will be taken at a later date, Bach said.

The IOC had sanctioned Russia and Belarus after the February 2022 invasion but it is now eager to see athletes come back across all sports and have a chance to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

It has set out a pathway for these competitors to earn Olympic slots through Asian qualifying and left it up to international federations to decide on organisation, but has faced headwinds, with Ukraine threatening to boycott the Paris Games should they compete there, even as neutrals.

“Participation of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports in international competitions works,” Bach said in his address at the start of the IOC’s executive board meeting at its headquarters in Lausanne.

“We see this almost every day in a number of sports, most prominently in tennis but also in cycling, in some table tennis competitions.”

“We see it ice hockey, handball we see it in football and in other leagues in the United States but also in Europe and we also see it in other continents,” he said. “In none of these competition security incidents have been happening.”

Russians and Belarusians have been competing as neutrals in some sports but their presence at some events, such as tennis tournaments, has triggered angry reactions from some other athletes.