Lausanne (AFP) – The International Olympic Committee on Thursday urged sports bodies to fully reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes into junior competitions and allow them to compete with their national flag and anthem.
“Athletes have a fundamental right to access sport across the world, and to compete free from political interference or pressure from governmental organisation,” the IOC said in a statement.
The proposal, which comes three years before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, was welcomed by Russia, whose athletes have faced bans from international competition since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“We thank the IOC Executive Board for its gradual and consistent progress towards restoring the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter,” Mikhail Degtyarev, president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said on Telegram.
“We will carefully analyse the Executive Board’s decision and continue to work towards the full restoration of the rights of all our athletes.”
The revised policy on Russia was agreed at a meeting chaired by IOC president Kirsty Coventry that gathered key stakeholders from across the Olympic movement.
It was acknowledged that implementing the latest measure to ease Russia’s sporting isolation “will take time” but it could apply to the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, scheduled to run from October 31 to November 13.
“Youth athletes, should not be held accountable for the actions of their governments,” said the IOC.
“Sport is their access to hope, and a way to show that all athletes can respect the same rules and each another.”
The IOC had announced in September that athletes from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete at next year’s Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics under a neutral banner if they meet strict conditions.
Those include competing under a neutral flag, taking part only in individual events and undergoing checks to prove that they did not actively support the war in Ukraine or have any links with the army.
The same conditions applied to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics at which 15 Russians and 17 Belarusians competed, winning a combined five medals.
Hard no.
If Russia wishes its athletes to compete internationally under their flag, then they can get the hell out of Ukraine and stop being murderous warmonger invaders.
Sucks for the kids, yes, but so what? Sucks for the kids of Ukraine to be stuck in the middle of a war, too!
Alternately let them compete under the Russian flag. These kids didn’t invade Ukraine, they can’t stop the war. Show them the rest of the world doesn’t hate all of Russia. Let them experience life outside the bubble and it might actually help stop the war, if more people can see the propaganda for what it is. Ideally they also lose badly in the competition, but that can’t really be assured.
Just isolating all things Russia and demanding they leave Ukraine isn’t really working.
Nobody is targeting the athletes though as they can still compete under neutral flag. Their achievements won’t be diminished because of that.
Alternatively, let them be pissed at their own government for their shitty acts that prevent these kids from competing under their own flag and not make everyone else tolerate or tiptoe around the bullshit “for the kids of Russia” excuse.
That’s been working so well these last few years.
Judging by the stalemate in the war and that there are shills like you advocating for a return to the status quo despite all the shit Russia has done, yes, I think it’s going as well as can be expected.
Let me be quite clear: Fuck Russia, and fuck those that would normalize and accept the war they started. If they want to be respected on an international stage, and have their children represent their country and not a neutral flag, then the path is quite easy and could be accomplished today.
Why should any other country, or the IOC, take steps to coddle the Russian children — apart from advocating for their ability to live a long life in good health? So they don’t feel bad or can ignore the shit their country is doing? Fuck that.
I’m not saying return to status quo or ignore everything Russia has done. I’m saying it’s time to pivot. Shame and exclusion aren’t working, maybe showing kids that have nothing to do with any of it that the world is willing to accept them leads to better results.
In pretty sure the rest of the world hates all of Russia. Ffs lemmoids call Russians ‘orcs’ and want to use nukes.
