Russian athletes allowed to participate in 2026 winter games under a neutral flag, IOC says

Sports from Russia will be allowed to participate in Milano-Cortina 2026 winter games under a neutral flag, The International Olympic Committee said Friday.

The International Olympic Committee was expected after a meeting in Milan on Friday and preserves the same sanctions that summer games in Paris suffer last year.

The International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October 2023 after imposing sanctions due to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying it had violated the Olympic Charter.

“We also talked about Independent neutral athletes (AINS). “This will not be a new thing,” the head of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsti Kovantry, told a news conference. Reuters. “The Executive Council will take the same approach that took place in Paris (Olympiad 2024). Nothing has changed.”

Previously, Russian athletes were allowed to compete under the Russian Olympic Committee, or “ROC”, which lasts during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. They were allowed to compete under “ROC” after a series of scandals that reduced their arrival at the games, but this was changed in the Paris games.

Last summer, Russian athletes could only participate under neutral science and individual events. They competed without the Russian or Belarusian flag. Instead, they participated as neutral athletes.

The Belarusian athletes faced the same sanctions because Belarus was a land of launching the conquest of Ukraine.

The International Olympic Committee said that the Russian athletes and the Blin who reach the qualifying times will be examined for the first time to obtain any links with the Russian army or support for a war of more than three years in Ukraine, both of which will exclude them.

Why is Russia banned from the Olympic Games?

Olympic athletes from Russia have faced a series of scandals and challenges in recent years.

The scandal of Russian athletes who take illegal drugs that enhance performance in public opinion exploded in 2015 after a series of leaks and investigations. In November 2015, the entire Russian track and field team was suspended after the International Anti -Doping Agency found What he called “Culture of fraud.”

2016 a report More than 1,000 individuals associated with the Russian doping scheme sponsored by the country between 2011 and 2014 identified. Russia was banned in 2017 due to the plan, but the International Olympic Committee gave individual athletes the opportunity to apply to accept competition for “Olympic athletes from Russia”. Only 168 Russian athletes passed the examination process to participate in the 2018 winter games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, under a neutral Olympic flag. This was the second time that Russian athletes participated under the neutral flag after they were in the unified team in 1992.

In 2019, the World Anti -Doping Agency voted Russia’s ban From the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Beijing Winter Games 2022 on the data of the processed steroids. Russian athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, but only if they could prove that they were not part of the scandal.

In 2023, about 20 months after its war with Ukraine, IOC commented Russia With an immediate effect of the Olympic Charter’s violation by integrating sports councils in four regions in eastern Ukraine. The limited presence of Russians and Belarusians in the Paris 2025 games fulfilled the Olympic body by combining athletes from all over the world while avoiding boycotting Ukraine and its closest allies.

Russian teams are still prohibited. The size of the neutral delegation is now dependent on international sports federations, which are responsible for the rehabilitation process, some of which are still in the ban of Russians and Belarusia from their competitions.

Olympics 2027 Winter in Italy operates from 6-22 February.

S. Dave

He contributed to this report.