The IOC Executive Board announced today that it is suspending the Russian Olympic Committee. This comes prior to the decision on whether or not "neutral" Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete at the Paris 2024
Olympic Games, which is set to be announced later this week.
The sporting world has been attempting to figure out how to deal with Russian and Belarusian athletes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In tennis, players who were previously representing Russia or Belarus have been competing as "neutral" athletes. These include
Daniil Medvedev,
Aryna Sabalenka,
Andrey Rublev, and
Victoria Azarenka among many other big names in the sport.
However, as the conflict has continued, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has had to determine whether or not "neutral" athletes should be allowed to participate in the upcoming Olympics, with their decision on the matter set to be announced later this week.
Russian Olympic Committee suspended with immediate effect
In a statement, the IOC explained why the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) had been suspended with immediate effect.
"The unilateral decision taken by the Russian Olympic Committee on 5 October 2023 to include, as its members, the regional sports organisations which are under the authority of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine (namely Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia) constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter."
Moreover, the statement detailed what the consequences of the suspension would include for the ROC, saying that it will no longer receive funding from the Olympic Movement.
The statement also mentioned the upcoming decision regarding "neutral" athletes.
"the IOC reserves the right to decide about the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian passport in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at the appropriate time."
