By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
On 7 May 2026, the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) urged international sports federations and event organisers to allow Belarusian athletes and teams competing under their national flag to return to international competitions, whilst maintaining restrictions on Russian athletes.
Both countries were suspended from Olympic competitions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Belarus being a close ally of Russia.
However, a partial ban, which allowed Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete as individual neutral athletes, was introduced in 2023.
The IOC justified the move by stating that, unlike Russia, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Belarus "is in good standing and complies with the Olympic Charter".
And added that since 2023:
"Athletes with a Belarusian passport have participated as individual neutral athletes (AINs) in numerous international sporting events, as well as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, without any incident on or off the field of play …. [and] …. athletes' participation in international competition should not be limited by the actions of their governments, including involvement in a war or conflict".
However, World Athletics has stated that:
"As a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, World Athletics sanctions implemented in March 2022 excluding Belarusian and Russian athletes, officials and supporting personnel from competition remain in place.”
And has added that:
"Our council has made a clear decision that when there is tangible movement towards peace negotiations it can begin to review its decisions. We all hope this will be soon, but until that happens the council continues to be united in standing behind the decision it made in March 2022 and revisited in 2023 and 2025."
It will be interesting to see how this standoff between World Athletics and the IOC is eventually resolved!
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘