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The International Olympic Committee has suspended the Russian Olympic Committee after the national body recognised organisations in occupied regions of Ukraine, marking the latest sporting sanction against Moscow since it launched an invasion of its neighbour.
The suspension cuts off the ROC from Olympic funding and curtails Moscow’s ability to represent its interests at the global body. The IOC said it “reserves the right to decide” on the participation of Russian athletes competing as neutrals in next year’s summer Olympics in Paris or the 2026 winter games in Milan-Cortina.
The IOC’s executive board said the ROC’s move last week to take over sporting operations in the southern and eastern occupied regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia “violates the territorial integrity of the [National Olympic Committee] of Ukraine”.
The suspension by the IOC is the latest development in long-running tensions between global sports organisations and Russia. Revelations of the nation’s state-sponsored doping programme before the 2014 Sochi games led to a three-year ban by World Anti-Doping Agency, during which the country was not allowed to test its own athletes or participate in the Olympics under its own flag.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, international sports federations banned the participation of athletes from Russia or its ally Belarus at many sporting events following the IOC’s recommendation.
Under its $590mn budget for the 2021-24 period, the IOC redistributes revenues from sponsorships and broadcast rights to sporting organisations and activities worldwide. That includes roughly $500,000 for each national committee over the period, not including additional funds for direct support to athletes.
The ROC said there was a “political background” to the IOC’s decisions.
“Today the IOC has taken another counterproductive decision, reaffirming what was de facto decided in February 2022,” it said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to the IOC’s move against Russia last year.
“The move does not affect the majority of Russian athletes, most of whom are still unjustifiably barred from international competitions,” it said.
Last week Stanislav Pozdnyakov, president of the ROC, told Russian state news agency Tass that the committee considered itself “self-sufficient” and that it would continue to “develop in accordance with current conditions”.
This spring, the IOC said it would not allow any Russian athletes to take part in team sporting events at the Paris games — for example, football or hockey — and any athletes who have voiced support for the war would also be prevented from participating.
Those who compete in individual sports have a more convoluted path to Olympic participation: while the games are administered by the IOC, qualification is ultimately up to international sports federations which set competition rules.
Some organisations, such as World Athletics, have banned any participation by athletes from Russia and Belarus, leaving them without a path to the Olympic Games. Others, such as the International Fencing Federation, are allowing Russians to compete at their events.
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