IOC Recommends Ending Restrictions For Belarusian Athletes

Braden Keith contributed to this report

On Thursday morning, the IOC held a press conference after their annual 2-day Executive Board Meeting, during which they announced they were recommending lifting all restrictions on the participation of Belarusian athletes in international sports events. In somewhat of a surprise move, they also said that there was no recommendation to lift restrictions on Russian athletes.

This news is the latest in the saga that started in March of 2022 after Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from international competition due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In December, the IOC recommended that youth athletes from both nations should be allowed to compete in youth sporting events under their respective flags, beginning with the 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games.

Earlier this year, World Aquatics announced that they would officially be ending neutral status for both nations, allowing them to compete under their flags and country names again, and that the nations would be allowed to host AQUA events again.

Now, the IOC is recommending lifting restrictions on all Belarusian athletes stating, “As the IOC continues to navigate the ever-increasing complex realities and consequences of the current geopolitical context, including the rising number of wars and conflicts, and amidst growing global instability, it must uphold its mission to preserve a values-based and truly global sporting platform that provides hope to the world.”

They explained further in their release, saying “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.”

The IOC recommendation does not extend to Russian athletes. The reason for this decision is because “the NOC [National Olympic Committee] of Belarus is in good standing and complies with the Olympic Charter. Whilst the ROC … remains suspended.”

The release also pointed to the history of doping issues in Russia, stating they “also noted with concern the recent information that has led to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) looking into the Russian anti-doping system. The IOC EB would therefore like to obtain a better understanding of this situation.”

This is referring to the recent news from WADA that they had handed out more than 300 sanctions against Russian athletes after an investigation into a Moscow Anti-Doping laboratory in 2019.

Why Russia?

The IOC’s bans on Russian and Belarusian athletes who don’t meet strict requirements have been upheld by the international Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The ban repeatedly begs the question about why Russia and Belarus are subject to restrictions and aggressors of other armed conflicts around the world, like the war between Israel and Palestine, the United States’ arrest of Venezuela’s president, or the many other regional conflicts around the world.

The IOC made the case that by annexing Ukrainian regional sporting organizations, Russia and their accomplices from Belarus had violated the IOC charter. The CAS accepted this needle threading.

It is currently estimated that the conflict in Ukraine has led to 1.8 to 2 million total military casualties (killed, wounded, missing) on both sides. The UN also confirmed that more than 15,000 civilians have been killed while more than 40,000 have been wounded though those numbers are thought to be higher.