The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Tuesday to leave it to the international federations to decide whether or not to reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes into their competitions, just over a year from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
By deciding to open the possibility of a return of Russian and Belarusian athletes, the International Olympic Committee, meeting in Lausanne on Tuesday March 28, put an end to more than a year of banishment of athletes from these two nations. The IOC recommends their reintegration into competitions, under a neutral banner, as individual athletes, and on condition that they do not support the war in Ukraine.
Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022, Russian and Belarusian athletes have been gradually excluded from international competitions, except in tennis where they have been able to continue their activity under a neutral banner. With this decision, the IOC leaves it to the international federations to decide whether or not to reinstate the Russians and Belarusians. Recently, fencing had already announced their reinstatement for April, while athletics maintained their exclusion.
February 28, 2022: the IOC follows in the footsteps of Fifa
While UEFA decided to move the Champions League final from Saint Petersburg to Paris a few days earlier, Fifa in turn decided to exclude Russia from the World Cup in Qatar. The football authorities reacted quickly, and the International Olympic Committee expressed itself, in a press release, recommending of “not to invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions.”
March 3, 2022: Paralympic athletes excluded on the eve of the Winter Games
The International Paralympic Committee decides to exclude Russian athletes from the 2022 Paralympic Games in China, on the eve of the start of the events. “The IPC believes that sport and politics should not mix, but whether we like it or not, the echo of war has also reached the Games, writes the instance. (…) We are sorry for the impact on Russian and Belarusian athletes. But that’s what we have to do to keep a safe environment in the Olympic Village.”
April 15, 2022: the Volleyball World Cup withdrawn from Russia
The International Volleyball Federation decides to withdraw the organization of the World Cup from Russia, to entrust it to Poland and Slovenia. It excludes, at the same time, Russia from the competition, and fishes out Ukraine, in the world ranking “highest among unqualified nations”, to replace it.
April 20, 2022: no Wimbledon for Daniil Medvedev, his compatriots and the Belarusians
While the ATP and WTA tournaments were content to impose a neutral banner for Russian and Belarusian players, the Wimbledon tournament decides to exclude them. “Under the circumstances of unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefit from the participation of Russian or Belarusian players,” justify the organizers. Daniil Medvedev, world number 2, is concerned.
January 26, 2023: the IOC paves the way for their reinstatement
The IOC opens the possibility of a return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to world sport. Such a decision will be up to the international federations, “only authorities that can govern international competitions in their sport“, explains the authority in a press release, while it began in December 2022 a series of consultations to organize their return, on behalf of the “unifying mission” Sport.
March 10, 2023: the fencing federation is the first to reinstate Russian athletes
The International Fencing Federation is the first to reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes into its competitions, starting in April. They will therefore be able to participate in the qualification period for the Paris 2024 Games, which begins in April, with eight World Cup stages, a world championship and a European championship by March 2024. They will be able to participate in all these sporting events under the banner neutral.
March 23, 2023: Wolrd Athletics remains firm
Unlike the international fencing federation, the athletics federation, World Athletics, maintains the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes. They remain banned from competition, but the Russian Athletics Federation, which had hitherto been suspended following a doping scandal for more than seven years, has been reinstated on the body’s council.
March 28, 2023: the IOC recommends their return
As the Olympic qualifying periods are due to begin, the IOC was called upon to decide. Through the voice of its president Thomas Bach, the body recommends to the international federations to reinstate the Russian and Belarusian athletes, who will not be able to compete “only as neutral individual athletes”, and therefore not as a team. They must neither support the war, nor actively participate in the supervisory staff, nor be under contract with one of the two armies, and finally “meet all anti-doping requirements applicable to them”, specifies the organization. No decision has been made on their participation in the Paris 2024 Games.