Russia Will Struggle To Participate In Competition of the Olympics Games 2026

Russia will strive to ensure the participation of its athletes in the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games next year. This was reported by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Peskov said when asked about Russia’s participation in the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics Games. “For the team of athletes, we continue to communicate with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). We will protect the interests of our athletes and our Olympic teams. Solving this issue will require additional time and effort,” he said.

The first ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in the international events after the war in Ukraine was happened in February 2022, the International Olympic Committee agreed to allow them to participate in the international sporting events as neutrals in March 2023, on the basis that they have not shown support for the war and have no ties to the armed forces.

Then 32 athletes were selected to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes (INAs) at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris, last summer, and 15 persons with Russian passports and 17 persons with Belarusian passports. This is down from the previous number of 330 Russian athletes and 104 Belarusian athletes at the previous Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

The candidates running for the International Olympic Committee president in the upcoming elections have been split on how to resolve this problem. Some have expressed that it is not the IOC’s role to get involved in politics, while some were cautious about the Olympics Charter, and others have taken a firm stance.

This was stated by Peskov, who noted that some sports federations have already decided or about to be made to allow individual athletes to participate in the Olympic Games or the Olympic cycle, which is good news.