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The Olympic flag during a practice session at Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris on July 24, 2024, and flag during an air show in the capital Minsk, on June 21, 2014. [AFP]
The IOC on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place.
Competitors from Russia and their allies Belarus had been banned from international competition following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, although some were permitted to compete as neutrals.
Russians will still only be able to compete in Olympic competition under the neutral banner, on an individual basis, and only if they have not actively supported the conflict.
The IOC executive board released a statement saying that it “no longer recommends any restrictions on the participation of Belarusian athletes, including teams”.
“The IOC reaffirms that athletes’ participation in international competition should not be limited by the actions of their governments, including involvement in a war or conflict,” it said.
This new policy should allow for a Belarusian delegation to compete at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028, when they will be present at the opening ceremony and included in the medals table.
The IOC said that the timing of the statement recognised that the qualification period for the 2028 Games begins this (northern hemisphere) summer.
“On behalf of the entire Belarusian sporting public, we express our gratitude to IOC President Kirsty Coventry for her balanced and principled stance,” said the Belarusian Olympic Committee.
“We are firmly convinced that sport is called to serve as a unifying force and must remain an arena free from political influence,” said the statement adding that Belarus hoped the decision “will become a defining benchmark for international sports federations, which will, in the shortest possible time, lift all restrictions on Belarusian athletes in all sports.”
Some Olympic sports, such as judo and swimming, have already lifted restrictions but Belarus are still unlikely to be able to compete as a team in track and field after World Athletics said in response to the IOC announcement that it was keeping its ban in place.
“As a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, World Athletics sanctions implemented in March 2022 excluding Belarusian and Russian athletes, officials and supporting personnel from competition remain in place,” said a World Athletics spokesperson.
“Our council has made a clear decision that when there is tangible movement towards peace negotiations it can begin to review its decisions. We all hope this will be soon.”
At the last two Olympics in Paris 2024 and the Milan-Cortina Winter Games in February, Belarusians competed alongside Russians as “Individual Neutral Athletes”, stripped of their national colours and in small numbers — there were 17 in Paris and seven in Italy.
And for the moment that will remain the case for Russian athletes wanting to take part in Los Angeles.
“The situation relating to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is different from that relating to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Belarus,” said the IOC in their statement.
The ROC has been suspended since autumn 2023 for having placed the sports organisations of four occupied Ukrainian regions under its authority.
However, the IOC also said that fresh concerns have recently arisen regarding the Russian anti-doping system which was first exposed in late 2015 following the Sochi Winter Games the year before.
“The difference is the Belarusian National Olympic Committee was never suspended. And they’ve always been in good standing,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry told reporters.
“The most recent information which led to the World Anti-Doping Agency looking into a potential doping allegation, we do not know how long that will take.”
The Zimbabwean former Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer added: “But in 2016 I was still an athlete and it is a huge importance for me to do whatever we can to ensure that the field of play, whenever any athletes are coming back to competition, is the cleanest and fairest field of play that we can provide.
“The Russian Olympic Committee is still suspended.”