On Friday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) clarified the suspension of Russian Olympic body and said that individuals who have Russian passports can participate, however, Russia as a country will not be allowed to participate in the Olympic games.
On Thursday, the Executive Board of the IOC announced the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) with immediate effect. The decision was taken after the ROC decided to include the regional sports organisation of Ukraine (Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia) as its member, as per the IOC.
Notably, the ROC will no longer be entitled to operate as a National Olympic Committee. The IOC reserves the right to decide on the participation of individual neutral athletes with Russian passports at the Paris Olympics 2022.
The body’s decision comes for the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s membership by recognizing illegally annexed territories. The move comes after the Russian Olympic Committee recognized regional organizations from four Ukrainian territories annexed since the invasion began in 2022.
IOC clarifies
“We will allow individual players with Russian passports. This means that they can participate in the Gamers on their own, but there will be no participation of Russia as a country. These will be neutral individual participations”, said IOC President Thomas Bach for 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
