The head of the Belarusian sports spoke about the ban situation of the Belarusian athletes

Foreign officials realized long ago that they had done something stupid by suspending athletes from Russia and Belarus from international competitions. This opinion was expressed by the Minister of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Kovalchuk in an interview with Izvestia.

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Almost three years ago, most Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from participating in international competitions. This happened after February 24, 2022, when a special military operation began on Ukraine.

"I think everyone realized a long time ago that they had done a lot of stupid things by suspending Belarusian and Russian athletes. But it's necessary to get out of this situation beautifully — I mean, first of all, European sports officials. So they are slowly making and will continue to make efforts in this direction. And sooner or later, the sport will return to where it was before all these events. We will definitely come back. And we will compete together with other athletes," Kovalchuk said.

At the same time, the head of Belarusian sports added that he calmly looks at the situation with the possible admission of our athletes to the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, which will be held in February 2026 in Italy.

"If they allow it, it's fine, if they don't allow it, we conduct our competitions well. There is no need to inflate this topic and bother with it. They have already shown their essence — those officials who made the decision to suspend our athletes. It was shown and demonstrated more than once," he stressed.

Of all the major sports, only tennis and boxing have Russians and Belarusians escaped the ban, and they even compete under their national flags in boxing. Since 2023, wrestlers, fencers, judoists, figure skaters, speed skaters, swimmers, and a number of other sports representatives have been admitted to neutral status.

However, Russian and Belarusian representatives in game sports, including hockey, basketball and volleyball, as well as in individual sports such as biathlon, cross-country skiing and gymnastics, are still not allowed to participate in international competitions. In addition, Russian football players have been suspended, where Belarusian teams are playing in a neutral status.

Read more in an exclusive interview with Izvestia:

"They did something stupid, but now they need to get out of the situation beautifully."