Side by side with the IOC: will the changes in the ROC charter lead to the return of our athletes

European sources reported on the call of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow Russians to qualify for the 2026 Olympics. The information coincided with an interview with the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation and the head of the ROC Mikhail Degtyarev, in which he spoke about changing the charter of the Russian Olympic Committee. According to Degtyarev, the IOC now has no legal reasons to refuse to restore our country's membership. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

The IOC advises

According to the Swedish SVT channel, the International Olympic Committee has called on the winter sports federations to allow Russian athletes to qualify for the 2026 Olympics. According to the source, the IOC has sent relevant letters to the International Biathlon Union (IBU) and the International Ski Federation (FIS). However, so far we are talking about admission in a neutral status — that is, performing at the upcoming Winter Games in Milan without a flag.

— The IOC makes it clear to us that they want to find a solution so that neutral athletes can participate in the Winter Olympics. They really want to deal with this issue and hope that soon we will allow neutral athletes to qualify," SVT quoted its source as saying.

"It would be a shame if you're allowed to go to the Olympics and you come in unprepared."

Russian biathlete Karim Khalili - about getting in shape for the Winter Games even without a confirmed admission and his successes at the competitions in Belarus

At the same time, a few days before the information appeared, IBU President Olle Dahlin said that the possibility of Russians returning to international competitions had not yet been discussed.

— This issue is not even being considered at the moment. But we hope that the conflict will end, because these are two very important countries (Russia and Belarus. — Ed.) in biathlon," Norwegian media NRK quoted him as saying.

In Russia, the IOC's new initiative has so far been treated with caution.

— It is necessary to understand the level of this recommendation, and from whom exactly this proposal came, after all, the new president of the IOC has not yet been elected (elections are scheduled for March 20, 2025), - the Olympic champion, the deputy of the State Duma Svetlana Zhurova emphasized to Izvestia. — Everyone will be waiting for this anyway to see if he will support Russia's return to the international arena.

In December, the Russians were allowed to qualify for the Olympic Games with some restrictions by the International Skating Union (ISU). Speed skaters, figure skaters, and short-track athletes from Russia can only be represented in each type of program by one athlete: Russians are prohibited from entering team competitions. Before that, neutral athletes from our country were allowed to participate in ski mountaineering. In hockey and curling, progress on this issue is hindered by the ban on the admission of Russians in team sports. The bobsleigh and luge federations have not yet indicated their position.

It is possible that the early actions of a number of international federations may be influenced by changes to the charter of the Russian Olympic Committee.

The affiliated republics

Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev announced the step that the Russian side has taken to restore its position in the IOC. According to him, 89 organizations were excluded from the ROC, after which the International Olympic Committee should have no legal reasons to continue suspending Russians.

Among the excluded organizations are 65 regional Olympic councils, including those from the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. It was after their inclusion in the ROC in 2023 that the IOC deprived the Russian Olympic Committee of recognition. It also became a formal reason not to let our athletes attend the Games in Paris.

— In December 2024, a new ROC charter was adopted, Degtyarev said Sports.ru . — Published. The regional Olympic councils are no longer members of the Russian Olympic Committee. The number of ROC members has been reduced by 89 units (100 organizations remain in the ROC membership register — Ed.). This is a conversation in legal language. Now there are not even formal reasons for any kind of ban. The reasons given in the IOC Executive Committee's decision have been eliminated, as we have already informed the International Olympic Committee.

Now, at major domestic competitions, there is a new term "affiliated republics", which denote the DPR, LPR and Crimea, so as not to anger the international federations.

Interestingly, the day before the information about the IOC's call to allow Russians to participate in the Olympic selection, Degtyarev shared favorable expectations of returning to international sports on Match TV. According to him, athletes from Russia will be able to participate in the upcoming summer and winter Games.

— We work with skiers and biathletes, we communicate informally and in writing,— Degtyarev said in a television interview. — These are big bosses. Without our biathletes and skiers, world sport is losing its entertainment value. It will be difficult, almost impossible, in full force — time has already been lost. But as many of our athletes as possible will go there. We will do everything for this. And we do. We are preparing for the Olympics in Los Angeles at full steam. I think we'll be fine there. We will be there in full force, with a flag and an anthem.

Foggy Milan: which of our athletes will be able to compete at the Games-2026

A year before the Olympics, only a handful of Russian athletes have the opportunity to qualify so far

Indeed, it is worth talking about a return in 2026, since almost all winter competitions have ended this year, Svetlana Zhurova supported.

— If the call is answered, then the question of how many of our athletes will be allowed in will be decided, and there are various nuances here.: will we be able to overcome all the regulatory norms and allow more Russians to compete in order to make the Olympic Games more interesting? This should be done in order to admit not one athlete, but two or three. In any case, we must wait for the election of a new IOC president.

Russian athletes have been facing restrictions on national symbols since 2016. At last summer's Olympics in Paris, we saw only 15 athletes from Russia who participated in a neutral status. Tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider were the only ones to reach medals — they won silver in the women's doubles tournament.