IOC provisionally lifts ban on Russian Olympic Committee ahead of LA 2028

LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday provisionally lifted its ban of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), opening the door for Russian athletes to return to international competitions, including qualification events for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

The IOC Executive Board said it had decided to provisionally end the suspension that had been in place since October 2023 after determining that the conditions which led to the ban no longer applied.

However, the Olympic body said it had not yet decided whether Russian athletes and teams would be allowed to compete under the country’s flag, colours and national anthem at future Olympic Games.

Russian competitors took part as neutral athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics under restrictions imposed following Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

In a related decision, the IOC advised international sports federations to discontinue the three-year process of assessing Russian athletes for neutral status ahead of qualification events for the 2028 Olympics. It also eased entry requirements for Russian athletes and teams.

The suspension was imposed in October 2023 after the Russian Olympic Committee recognised regional sports organisations from the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Russia claims to have annexed.

At the time, the IOC said the move violated the Olympic Charter by infringing upon the territorial integrity of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

“The unilateral decision taken by the Russian Olympic Committee … constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter,” the IOC had said, adding that it violated the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s Olympic committee as recognised by the IOC.

The IOC had also suspended funding to the Russian Olympic Committee following the decision but clarified that the sanctions did not affect individual Russian athletes competing under neutral status.

Despite the provisional lifting of the suspension, the IOC stressed that a decision on restoring Russia’s national symbols at the Olympic Games would be taken “at an appropriate time.”

The next Olympic event on the calendar is the 2026 Youth Summer Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, scheduled to open on October 31.

The decision marks a significant step towards Russia’s gradual return to the Olympic movement after nearly three years of restrictions, although its full reinstatement remains contingent on future IOC decisions.