LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday lifted restrictions on Russian athletes allowing them to compete in team events and in qualifying competitions for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

However, the IOC, meeting in Lausanne, kept in place the ban on the Russian national anthem being played and the flag being displayed, for the time being, but stipulated returning Russian athletes would have to pass “multiple” doping tests before being allowed to participate.

The accompanying statement, laying out a host of conditions, said individual sports could decide whether to allow the flag and anthem at their own events or stage competitions in Russia.

As for the Games, with the Los Angeles Olympics two years away, the IOC said it “will take a decision in relation to the display of the Russian flag, anthem, colours or any identifications for the Olympic Games at the appropriate time.” Russia welcomed the decision.

“The IOC is sending a clear signal: the Olympic movement must remain free from politics,” Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev said on Telegram, adding Russia planned to participate in qualifiers for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Russia’s return remains more limited than that of Belarus, which was allowed back by the IOC in early May without any restrictions on national anthem or colours.

The IOC said to address “the lack of confidence” after a series of Russian doping scandals, “all athletes newly coming back to international competition must have been tested multiple times prior to their return”.

The ban was imposed in October 2023, more than 18 months after the invasion of Ukraine, when the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) decided to include sports organisations in annexed territories as members.

“The ROC confirmed that it does not, and will not, conduct any activities in these territories,” said the IOC statement adding it will “closely monitor the situation”.

The statement added: “The IOC condemns wars, armed conflicts and violence that cause human suffering wherever they occur.”

IOC SHUFFLE 2030 WINTER GAMES EVENTS

Meanwhile on Tuesday, The IOC also announced that freeride skiing and snowboarding events, as well as synchronised skating, will be on the programme for the 2030 Winter Olympics, while dropping Nordic combined.

The Games, due to be held in and around the French Alps, will also be the first Winter Olympics to achieve gender parity among athletes with a total of 3,046 participants expected across 126 events, the IOC said.

After confirming last week the continued inclusion of ski mountaineering that made its Olympic debut at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games in February, the IOC has added new disciplines affiliated with existing Olympic international federations.

Meeting in Lausanne on Tuesday, the IOC Executive Board opted for freeride — a discipline involving lines and tricks performed in powder snow on skis or snowboards — following a long lobbying effort that began thirty years after the sport’s first competitions.

Synchronised skating which held its first world championships in 2000 will introduce an Olympic audience to routines performed simultaneously by nine skaters.

However, Nordic combined is being dropped, despite having been part of the Olympic programme since the inaugural Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924 and remaining the only discipline restricted to men.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) expressed its disappointment at the decision to drop the sport which combines cross country skiing and ski jumping.

“Our first reaction is, inevitably, one of disappointment,” said FIS President Alexander Ospelt.

“Nordic Combined is also a discipline that has been observing clear and tangible growth and an ever-broader international participation over the last few years thanks to the inclusion of women’s competitions.”

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2026