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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡
Asking about the status of the continuing bans on Russian athletes, the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) told the Russian news service TASS:
“We can confirm that the current FIS policy, which does not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to participate in FIS competitions, remains unchanged for now.”
The International Biathlon Union, which held its annual Congress last week in Belgrade (SRB), did not take up the issue and in a statement to TASS, noted:
“The decision of the 2022 Congress will remain in force. This means that Russian athletes will not participate in the competition. The IBU rules do not contain a provision on the participation of athletes in a neutral status.”
The International Skating Union Council met on 27-28 September and did include an agenda item on the current ban on Russian and Belarusian participation. TASS reported a source explaining:
“The meeting is over, no decision has been made on the participation of Russians in international competitions.”
Thus, the current ban remains in place. The Director General of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Alexander Kogan added:
“The ISU extended the suspension of Russian athletes, postponing the decision on this issue. Nothing new. What we have done, we will do; we will look for new competition formats, new motivation points for athletes to achieve high results.”
Nikolai Gulyaev, President of the Russian Skating Union, told TASS:
“The meeting is over, no changes, the suspension has been extended. We will miss this season. I will not make predictions for the future, it is a thankless task.”
The loss of opportunities to compete during the 2024-25 season are especially impactful as regards participation at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, as qualifying opportunities are missed.
With the winter-sport bans in place since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and that war continuing without any end in sight, multiple Russian sports officials have been predicting that Russian (and Belarusian) athletes will not be present at the 2026 Winter Games, save for perhaps a few as “neutrals” as was the case at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
This could change, of course, with the election of a new President of the International Olympic Committee next March, who will take office in late June.
In the meantime, the Milan Cortina 2026 organizers are accepting volunteer applications from Russia, an organizing committee representative explained:
“The Team26 volunteer program aims to reach 18,000 volunteers and we look forward to receiving a large number of applications. Anyone can apply by filling out the form and following the instructions in it.”
However, it’s not a completely smooth process. TASS reported on a volunteer applicant named Igor, who told the agency:
“The application process for the 2026 Olympic volunteer group started in early September, and as soon as the Olympic organizing committee opened the application process, I immediately decided to send my application through the website from my mobile phone.
“When registering, you first need to enter your email address, after which the ‘place of residence’ window opens to select your country. But imagine my surprise when I couldn’t find great Russia in this huge list of countries, but there was a place for tiny Aruba, for example. It’s very unpleasant that the organizers for some reason decided not to indicate your country.
“And only after I had chosen ‘Other’ in the ‘place of residence’ window after much thought, I was given the opportunity to proceed directly to the application process, and at the next stage, when filling out all the biographical data, I was able to indicate Russia as my place of permanent residence. By the way, Belarus was not on the initial large list either.”
For Paris 2024, the organizing committee accepted volunteer applications from Russia and Belarus, but the French security authorities decided not to allow entry into the country for those who were selected to help at the Games.
No word yet from the Italian authorities on that.
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