Russian Athletes Set To Return - IOC

By Chimezie Nebolisa

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has announced that Russian athletes who do not back invasion of Ukraine could return to competing.

The IOC had in February issued guidance to sports governing bodies to remove Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition.

“It is not about necessarily having Russia back. It’s about having athletes with a Russian passport who do not support the war back in competition. Here comes our dilemma – this war has not been started by the Russian athletes. But we saw that some governments did not want to respect anymore the autonomy of international sports… This is why we’ve had to take these protective measures to be at least still a little bit in the driving seat and not lose all autonomy. And this is why, on the other hand, we also have to see, and to study, to monitor, how and when we can come back to accomplish our mission to have everybody back again, under which format whatsoever,” Bach told reporters during a media brief.