In a pivotal development, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has provisionally reinstated the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), paving the way for Russia’s potential full return to the Olympic community as the world eyes the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The suspension of the ROC in October 2023 followed Russia’s incursion into Ukraine earlier in February 2022. The sanctions were imposed after the ROC recognized regional Olympic councils in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, specifically Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
While the IOC’s executive board has decided to lift the ban on the ROC, it remains undecided whether Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under their national flag, don Russian colors, or hear their anthem at the Games.
The committee reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Ukraine amidst the ongoing geopolitical tensions.
“We do not endorse any form of conflict, including this one,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry remarked during a press briefing on Tuesday. “Our support for Ukraine remains steadfast, as it has since the beginning. Nonetheless, I believe athletes should not bear the brunt of such circumstances.”
“We don’t want to hold athletes accountable for the actions of their government. We made it clear that all athletes had the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games.
“This is what this decision speaks to. It allows Russian athletes to take part in sports competitions. We thought it was really important for athletes to have that possibility,” Coventry said.
She added that the IOC would continue to closely monitor Russia.
In response, skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, the Ukrainian face of the Milano Cortina Games after being banned for wearing a helmet featuring athletes killed in the war, called for a coalition of national Olympic committees to oppose the decision and said visa bans and boycott talks should be on the table.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said the decision was “a troubling signal for the entire international community”, and urged countries hosting competitions to uphold a ban on Russian state symbols as “under this flag an unprovoked war is continuing in Ukraine”.
Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev said the IOC’s decision should clear the way for Russian athletes to make a full return to the international sporting stage.
“Our country’s return to the Olympic family is a green light for international federations to reinstate all our athletes,” Degtyarev said.
Russian athletes competed as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games.
The IOC had said in imposing its ban in 2023 that Russia recognising regional Olympic councils in occupied parts of Ukraine violated the Olympic Charter and the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s Olympic Committee.
On Tuesday it said: “The ROC confirmed that it does not, and will not, conduct any activities in these territories. The IOC EB will continue to closely monitor the situation relating to any ROC activities in those territories, and reserves the right to take any further measures if deemed necessary.”
In addition to Russia being ostracised over its invasion of Ukraine, its athletes’ return to competition comes against the backdrop of one of the most damaging doping scandals in Olympic history.
The country has been under scrutiny since a 2015 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-commissioned report found evidence of systematic doping in Russian athletics, followed by findings that a state-sponsored cover-up operated around the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Russia was barred from competing under its flag at several subsequent Games, with many athletes admitted only as neutrals, and WADA imposed a four-year ban in 2019 after Moscow was found to have manipulated laboratory data — a sanction later cut to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Russian officials have repeatedly denied the existence of a state-backed doping program.
“We ask to ensure that adequate testing is done on Russian athletes coming into the LA28 Games,” Coventry said.