IOC looks at letting Russian athletes back into Games
The International Olympic Committee has begun to look at ways for Russian athletes to return to global competition including the Olympic Games, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic board chair Susanne Lyons said Thursday.
Questions about the return of Russian athletes, concerns about the investigation of a positive drug test of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, and the country’s imprisonment of U.S. basketball gold medalist Brittney Griner overshadowed the final day of the IOC’s meeting with LA 28 officials and touring of venues for Los Angeles third Olympic Games.
It was the first time the entire IOC commission monitoring Los Angeles preparations for the 2028 Games had met in host city.
Russian athletes have been largely banned from major international competitions like this past summer’s World and European track and field championships after the IOC pressured international sports governing bodies in February to remove Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But in recent weeks and months the IOC, especially Thomas Bach, the organization’s president, has begun to soften its stance on Russian athletes competing in major events. Bach has been heavily criticized for being soft on Russia on issues ranging from the nation’s state sponsored doping program to the Putin regime’s invasion of neighboring countries.
“We know that the IOC is beginning to think about whether there’s a pathway back for the Russian athletes,” said Lyons. “They are beginning to reach out to all of their stakeholders to get input on that topic.”
Lyons said she favors Russian athletes being allowed to return to competition.
“But I think all of us feel at some point in time individual athletes should not be the victims of whatever their government politics or other tensions there are around the world,” she said. “I think inevitably there will be a desire to see athletes that happen to reside in Russia come back and be part of competition, but the timing and what that looks like is to be determined.”
Russian athletes last participated in the Olympics during Beijing Games this past February, representing the Russian Olympic Committee as part of an IOC compromise to allow Russian athletes to compete in the Games while theoretically punishing Russia for the country’s doping program that included covering up dozens of positive tests at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
USOPC officials, however, expressed their displeasure with the handling of the Valieva case.
It was revealed on February 8, that Valieva, then 15 and the overwhelming favorite for the Olympic individual women’s skating gold medal, had tested positive for a banned substance, a result that should have prevented her from competing in Beijing. The positive result came from a post-competition test following the Russian championships in December and only became public the day after she led ROC athletes to the team competition gold medal.
The U.S. finished second in the team competition and if Valieva is disqualified, the Americans could be awarded the gold medal.
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency announced this week that it has completed its investigation of the Valieva case but provided no further details.
“I’d like to tell you that I’m less mad or less frustrated but it continues to be an outrageous situation,” said USOPC president Sarah Hirshland. “I understand that the investigation is complete, we saw yesterday an announcement that the hearings would be held.
“I said before our number one priority is to make sure that our Team USA athletes, who are sitting without their medals, know that we haven’t forgotten them.”
Hirshland seemed to dismiss the prospect of Russian athletes being allowed to compete internationally as potential leverage in negotiations to free Griner.
“It’s hard not to conflate the issues even though I think from a policy perspective I’m not sure they’re directly related,” Hirshland said.
Griner was arrested at the Moscow airport on February 17 after officials found cartridges of hashish oil in her luggage and has been in Russian detention ever since. Griner has played for the Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA off-season since 2014.
She was sentenced to nine years in prison on August 4 after pleading guilty to nine charges.