IOC eases path toward Russia returning with full team at 2028 LA Olympics

GENEVA (AP) — Russia has moved closer toward having a full team with its national flag and anthem at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday provisionally lifted a suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and advised Olympic sports bodies to end a three-year program where Russian athletes had to be vetted for permission to compete as neutrals.

The IOC said the timing was because qualifying events are starting for the L.A. Games, and “the need to offer equal access to these competitions to all athletes.”

The move, which also signals a return for Russia in team sports, had been expected since the IOC advised two months ago that athletes from Belarus, which was Russia’s ally when its military invasion of Ukraine started in 2022, should be allowed again to compete with their full national identity.

“We don’t want to hold athletes accountable for the actions of their governments,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry said at an online news conference after she chaired an executive board meeting.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist swimming for Zimbabwe, Coventry said it was a fair decision and noted: “I wouldn’t be sitting here if I had to pay the price when my country was going through things and being sanctioned.”

Ukraine’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi questioned why the IOC altered its rules when in the war “nothing changed. The situation became even worse.”

Russia unleashed waves of missiles and drones at Ukraine early Monday, killing at least 22 people.

“So we don’t understand it,” Bidnyi told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. “In this day, when all of Ukraine (is) in a day of mourning, when our flags was a little bit lower because of so many people, our peaceful citizens was killed yesterday at night.”

The IOC also reiterated its “solidarity with the Olympic community of Ukraine” and ongoing financial support.

Barriers remain

The IOC’s guidance to reintegrate Russians in international events is not binding for the governing bodies of individual sports.

“Our country’s return to the Olympic family is a green light for international federations to restore the rights of our athletes,” Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov said Tuesday.

Track and field is not following suit.

Asked about the IOC’s decision, World Athletics referred the AP to its decision last week maintaining a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in its international events.

In soccer, FIFA and European body UEFA have continued to exclude Russia in competitions such as the World Cup and Champions League, avoiding likely chaos because teams from other countries would refused to play those games.

Russian athletes and teams likely will face issues getting entry visas from some countries hosting sports events.

Russia’s return

Among top-tier Olympic sports, swimming’s governing body World Aquatics lifted its restrictions on Russian athletes in April.

The ROC was suspended in 2023 when the Russian Olympic body incorporated regional sports councils from occupied regions of eastern Ukraine. But the IOC said “the ROC confirmed that it does not, and will not, conduct any activities in these territories.”

Ukrainian minister Bidnyi described this promise as “just fake and empty words.”

Just 32 athletes from Russia and Belarus competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics as approved neutrals.

The Russian team in Los Angeles could now be closer to the more than 300 athletes sent to the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021. That squad returned with 71 medals including 20 titles.

Athletes still monitored

To be approved for neutral status, Russian athletes had to show no links to state military and security agencies. They also should not have publicly supported the war in Ukraine .

The IOC will continue to monitor social media posts by Russian athletes, Coventry confirmed, citing the “role models” requirement in the Olympic Charter.

“That is strong enough leverage that we would need at any time in order to decide who would be willing and deserving to come to any Olympic Games,” she said.

IOC official James Macleod said the Olympic body gets referrals from Ukraine about problematic social media posts by Russian athletes: “Those are always taken into consideration.”

In a statement Wednesday, the Australian Olympic Committee said it wants the IOC to ensure “a level playing field in competition” given Russia’s doping history.

“Russia has had extremely serious anti-doping breaches in the past,” the AOC statement said. “We therefore support the most stringent possible anti-doping controls being in place to ensure all Russian athletes who are returning, some having been out of the system for many years, are fully compliant.”

Flag, anthem to return in October?

The IOC did not yet approve letting Russian athletes and teams compete with their flag and anthem. That decision will come “at an appropriate time,” it said.

The next Olympic competition is the 2026 Youth Summer Games in Dakar, Senegal, opening Oct. 31.

The IOC said to “address the lack of confidence in the global sporting community relating to the return of Russian athletes to international competition,” those athletes must give multiple doping controls and be part of a recognized testing program.

The IOC said it will continue to “not organize IOC events in Russia or invite Russian government or state officials to its events.”

___

AP writer Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv and AP Sports Writers James Ellingworth in Düsseldorf, Germany and Dennis Passa in Brisbane, Australia contributed to this report.

___

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press