IOC Caves to Allow Russian Athletes at Paris Olympics Under ‘Strict’ Conditions

IOC Caves to Allow Russian Athletes at Paris Olympics Under ‘Strict’ Conditions

The executive board of the International Olympic Committee on Friday caved to pressure to allow Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete at the Paris Olympics under ‘strict eligibility conditions.’

The athletes will compete as “individual neutral athletes” if they qualify via standards set by international federations, per a press release. The biggest condition appears to be that athletes must sign an updated Conditions of Participation document, a half-page, six-point declaration that acknowledges, “the peace mission of the Olympic Movement.”

The eligibility criteria do not allow for teams. Athletes who “actively support the war” will not be eligible, though no ways of determining that are specified. (The status of Evgeny Rylov will be one notable test within the swimming realm.) The IOC will not allow athletes “contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies” or as support personnel.

It anticipates, from its press release, that “only a very limited number of athletes will qualify through the existing qualification systems of the IFs (international federations).” World Aquatics signaled in September that it would allow athletes from those nations to compete as individual neutral athletes.

The IOC contends that it has the support of, “the overwhelming majority of athletes not to punish fellow athletes for the actions of their government.” The IOC cited as evidence that only 11 athletes (eight Russian, three Belarussian) have qualified for an Olympic Games they were not yet trying to qualify for, as opposed to 60 Ukrainian athletes. The IOC also didn’t miss the chance to trumpet its funding of more than 3,000 Ukrainian athletes through its IOC Solidarity Fund.

In exchange for the life-changing event that is participation in the Olympics and the possibility of winning medals on their sport’s biggest stage, the IOC stipulated that athletes can’t bring their flags or anthems. No state officials will be invited either.

Friday’s decision follows a pattern with Russian athletes in particular, of tough talk about their intransigence when an Olympic Games is distant followed by a softening and eventual acquiescence. The timeline of the Ukraine war echoes the IOC’s actions on Russia systemic doping programs of the last decade.

The IOC board last December indicated that “now is not the time” to lift suspensions. Last March, the IOC put in place a framework for athletes to return to competition, despite 35 nations, including the United States, that month coming out in support of continued prohibition against Russian and Belarussian athletes.

The IOC in July took the ceremonial step of not extending invitations to the Paris Olympics to Russia or Belarus, but that was a hollow gesture aimed more at the administrations of those nations that athletes. Friday’s move is instead moving to extricate athletes from their larger geopolitical structure. (The IOC in October extended indefinitely the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee, and Friday’s announcement includes no easing of that position.)

Russian and Belarussian athletes were largely suspended from all international competition when those governments declared war on Ukraine, Russia invading its neighbor’s borders and Belarus acting as a pliant staging ground for the operation in February 2022. (The Beijing Winter Olympics closed on Feb. 20; the invasion of Ukraine began Feb. 24.)

The reaction of the global sporting community in February 2022 was swift and unequivocal to ban Russian and Belarussian athletes. It has meant that the last two World Aquatics World Championships have been conducted without athletes from those nations. Both World Aquatics and European Aquatics have continued to exclude those athletes from international and continental events.

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