The International Olympic Committee has lifted its suspension on Russia, paving the way for Russian teams to return to the Olympic fold before the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
Russia has been banned from competing at the Olympics under its own flag since 2016 because of state-sponsored doping offences and then the invasion of Ukraine.
However, the IOC’s executive board has invited the Russian Olympic Committee back in from the cold after accepting that it no longer controlled sporting bodies in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
The IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, also pointed to a second reason behind its decision. Last week it changed its rules to emphasise that athletes should not be punished for the behaviour of their government.
“We wanted to ensure all athletes have the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games and not be responsible for their government’s actions,” Coventry said. “The decision allows for Russian athletes to take part in sport competitions – but we have also been very clear that we do not support violence around the world.”
Only 27 athletes from Russia competed across the 2024 Summer Games in Paris and the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina after undergoing a vetting process to ensure they did not publicly support the war on Ukraine.
However this has now been scrapped, with Russian athletes only having to abide by the values of the Olympic charter. It means that several hundred Russians could yet compete in the LA Games.
For now, at least, the IOC’s decision comes with caveats designed to ensure that Russia plays by the rules. The IOC says it has not decided yet whether Russia can display its flag, colours or have its anthem played at the LA Games. The IOC will also not host events in Russia – or invite Russian government officials to its events.
Finally, Russian athletes will have to undergo multiple doping tests by the International Testing Agency before they are allowed back because of doping fears.
Partly that is because the Russian Anti-Doping Agency is still suspended following reports that its director general was involved in covering up drug test results at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Crucially, however, the IOC has also made it clear that individual sports and competitions have discretion to make their own decisions regarding Russia – with many sports expected to allow Russian teams and anthems to return long before the LA Games.
For now, though, Fifa and Uefa say there are no immediate plans to allow Russia’s club and national teams back into international competition. Last week World Athletics also upheld its decision to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from any international competition.
The IOC’s decision was welcomed by Russia’s sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev, who predicted that it would lead to multiple sports reinstating Russian teams in the near future – and to Russia hosting major sports events again.
“This is a clear path to ensuring that all federations of all sports reinstate Russian national teams and return them to international competitions,” he said. “We’ve done extensive diplomatic work to reinstate our athletes.
“It’s also very important that the IOC has allowed international federations to hold world championships and international tournaments at their discretion. We will definitely take advantage of this.”
Global Athlete and FairSport, organisations that promote athletes and drug-free sport, took a very different view. “By welcoming Russia back into the Olympic fold despite its history of state-sponsored doping and its ongoing war against Ukraine, the IOC has chosen to rewrite, to lower, its own standards for stakeholder accountability,” the Global Athlete director general, Rob Koehler, said.
“There is no evidence that Russia has changed. The Olympic Charter is supposed to protect the integrity of sport, not be rewritten to accommodate those who have repeatedly violated it.”
The IOC, meanwhile, has announced that two new events have been added to the 2030 Winter Olympics in the Alps: Synchro9, a new format of synchronised ice skating, and freeride (ski and snowboarding).
