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NEED TO KNOW
- The International Olympic Committee has reversed course regarding the participation of Russian athletes
- In 2022, the Russan Olympic Committee was suspended for recognizing regional Olympic councils in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine
- “We will continue to support Ukraine like we have since this started,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry said
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), bringing Russian athletes one step closer to being able to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the ROC was suspended for recognizing regional Olympic councils in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, according to Reuters.
According to a news release from the IOC, its executive board made the decision after “following a thorough analysis by the IOC’s Legal Affairs Commission, considering that the ROC no longer includes as its members any regional sports organizations in territories falling under the jurisdiction of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine.”
“We don’t condone any wars, including this one. We will continue to support Ukraine like we have since this started. But I don’t believe athletes should pay the price,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said during a press conference on Tuesday, July 7. “We don’t want to hold athletes accountable for the actions of their government.”
Coventry added, “We made it clear that all athletes had the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games. This is what this decision speaks to. It allows Russian athletes to take part in sports competitions. We thought it was really important for athletes to have that possibility.”
Credit: Lee Jin-man/AP Photo
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In 2023, the IOC announced that Russia and Belarus were not on the list of 203 countries to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
The decision came amid then-ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, as Russia continued its full-scale invasion into the eastern European nation. As an ally of Russia, Belarus was also implicated in the IOC’s decision.
“The IOC’s position is clear,” a representative for the committee wrote. “We condemned the war from the first day. We imposed unprecedented sanctions on the Russian and Belarusian governments.”
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