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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has taken an important step towards re-introducing Russian and Belarusian athletes into global sports, and advised governing bodies to allow their youth teams and athletes to compete under their national flag and anthem.
In a statement, the IOC stressed that athletes have a “fundamental right to access sport worldwide and compete free from political interference or pressure from government organizations.”
The directive, which would likely be welcomed in Russia and Israel, where athletes have recently faced discrimination, comes less than three years after 2028 los angeles summer gamesPotentially dealing with political complexities in the United States.
The updated strategy emerged from a olympics The summit, a gathering chaired by IOC President Kirsty Coventry that included key Olympic stakeholders.
The IOC acknowledged that “implementation by stakeholders will take time,” adding that each sport’s governing body is responsible for defining youth events.
This relaxation of sports isolation could extend to the IOC’s own Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal from October 31 to November 13 next year.
Russian teams have been completely excluded from international competitions, including football and athletics, since the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian and Belarusian tennis players were also banned from competing at Wimbledon in 2022, before the All England Club lifted the ban the following year, allowing stars such as Aryna Sabalenka and Daniil Medvedev to play.
Russian and Belarusian athletes are already beginning to return to neutral status at the Winter Games ahead of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, which runs from February 6-22, with some skiers allowed to compete in qualifying events for the Games.
A small contingent of Russian and Belarusian athletes, without national identity, participated as neutrals in last year’s Paris Summer Games, where team sports were banned for these countries.