The verdict came in on Thursday, four and a half months before the opening of the Winter Olympic Games: the arrangements for participation of neutral individual athletes will be the same at Milan-Cortina 2026 as for Paris 2024. Not a big surprise since Kirsty Coventry had expressed a certain satisfaction with the way the issue was handled at the last Summer Games. The door is therefore open to Russians and Belarusians who succeed in qualifying. The IOC Executive Board justifies its decision by the fact that " the participation of 32 athletes holding Russian or Belarusian passports " in Paris has not generated no incident, " neither on the competition area nor outside ».
As in Paris, the participation of these athletes will be only authorized on individual eventsThe IOC recalls that athletes and support personnel actively supporting war or under contract with the military or national security agencies " will not be allowed to be entered in competitions or to compete ».
Un neutral individual athlete review committee will be set up to assess the eligibility of each athlete who obtains, or who could obtain, a qualification for the Games. All elected officials will have to sign an undertaking to respect the Olympic Charter.
