The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed that Russian teams will be barred from competing in the Winter Games in Italy next year — extending sanctions imposed over the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that started the ongoing war there.
Reuters reported Tuesday that the IOC is extending its ruling from March 2023 that kept Russian teams out of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Individual Russian athletes were allowed to compete in neutral teams last year but not under the country’s flag. That arrangement, which also applied to athletes from Russian ally Belarus, is expected to also continue.
The IOC didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment and hasn’t made a formal announcement.
“The IOC Executive Board recommendation from March 2023 with regard to teams of athletes with a Russian passport remains in place,” the IOC told Reuters on Tuesday.
International Ice Hockey Federation President Luc Tardif told reporters on Sunday that the IOC’s statement extending the ban was expected.
“Recently they asked us to send them a schedule without Russia, so that’s where we are,” he told HockeyNews.se and Hokej.cz on Sunday. “The official statement is pending but the IOC has told us that they are informing the Russian Olympic Committee that they are not participating in the Olympics.”
“We have been pressuring them to make a decision, one way or another, because we’re getting closer to the Olympics and we need to know,” Tardif added.
Russia, historically a powerhouse competitor in Olympic ice hockey and figure skating events, hosted the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
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