IOC Lifts Russia Suspension

Russia moved closer Tuesday toward having a full team with its national flag and anthem at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The International Olympic Committee provisionally lifted a suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and advised Olympic sports bodies to end a three-year program vetting Russian athletes for neutral status, the AP reports. The IOC said the timing was because qualifying events are starting for the LA 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, was expected since the IOC advised two months ago that athletes from Belarus, which was Russia's ally in the full military invasion of Ukraine 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."
• 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 like the World Cup and Champions League, avoiding likely chaos because teams from other countries would refuse to play those games.

• The IOC also reiterated its "solidarity with the Olympic community of Ukraine" and ongoing financial support. 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."
• Just 32 athletes from Russia and Belarus competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics as approved neutrals, and combined to win five medals, with just one gold. The Russian team in Los Angeles could now be closer to the more than 300 athletes sent to the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021. They returned with 71 medals, including 20 golds.
• 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.
• Critics of the decision included Lisa Nandy, the UK's culture secretary, who said she was "utterly appalled" by the move, the Guardian reports. "The government has been consistently clear that the Russian state should not be represented in international sport while the illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues. We continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine," she said. "It is also a fact that Russia's flagrant disregard for anti-doping regulations makes a mockery of their participation in future events."