The IOC (International Olympic Committee) suspended, this Thursday (7), the restrictions on Belarusian athletes determined after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing them to participate, with anthem and flag, including in team competitions.
According to the same statement, the Olympic body maintains, for now, the conditions imposed on Russian athletes, who will only be able to participate in international competitions under a neutral flag, individually and as long as they have not actively supported the conflict.
Formally, it will be up to the different international federations to apply the measure, as the IOC executive committee is limited to making “recommendations”.
But this new policy should allow, in 2028, the return of a Belarusian delegation to the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, as well as the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Dolomiti Valtellina, with presence at the opening ceremony and presence in the medal table.
The classifications for both events “will start this summer” –northern hemisphere, winter in Brazil–, recalled the IOC.
In the last two editions of the Games (Paris 2024 and Milan-Cortina 2026), some Russian and Belarusian athletes competed as “neutral individual athletes”, without officially representing their countries.
The number, however, was reduced: 17 in Paris and 7 in Italy.
To justify the distinction applied to Russian athletes, the IOC recalls that the Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended since 2023 for placing under its authority the sports organizations of four occupied Ukrainian regions and that new concerns regarding the Russian anti-doping system have recently emerged.
Just snow and ice in 2030
On the other hand, the IOC closed the door this Thursday on the presence, in the next Winter Olympic Games, those of the French Alps in 2030, of sports such as cross-country, trail, cyclocross or gravel, which the French organizers were studying as possible proposals, despite not being winter sports in the strict sense.
“We will vote on the program in June, but we have already decided that no summer sport and no sport played in all seasons will be part of it. It will only be snow and ice,” declared IOC President Kirsty Coventry.
There is, however, no progress regarding plans for the Salt Lake City 2034 Games, as there is an IOC working group currently tasked with further reflection on the Olympic Games program, and conclusions have not yet been presented.
In any case, for 2030 the possible “additional sports” that French organizers can propose are restricted. Freeride and ice climbing remain in dispute.
Last December, the head of the 2030 Olympic Games, Edgar Grospiron, explained that the entry of sports that are not strictly snow or ice, but whose organization is not costly, was being studied, to take advantage of the potential of the French Alps as the venue for the event.
The possible inclusion of trail or cyclocross provoked reservations among international winter sports federations, who asked to “not distort” the event with the inclusion of modalities usually administered by international summer sports federations.
