Russia remains excluded: Olympic spell for teams 2026!

Russia remains excluded: Olympic spell for teams 2026!

Russia is excluded from all team sports. This decision was officially confirmed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday. The exclusion, which was recommended by the IOC Executive in March 2023, also affects the Russian ice hockey team and ensures uncertainty in planning the games, reports laola1 .

Luc Tardif, the President of the IIH Hockey Association IIHF, announced at the final press conference of the Ice Hockey World Championship in Sweden and Denmark that the IOC called for an urgent decision to create the game plan for the teams without Russian participation. In the past, Russia had been excluded from participating in the World Hockey Championships since 2022, added Sportschau .

exclusion and individual participation

The decision not to have the teams participated with has far -reaching consequences. Team sports are particularly affected in which Russia is traditionally strongly represented. In the coming years, Russia will not be part of the Ice Hockey Championships in Switzerland in 2024. A possible return to international sports events will be discussed in February 2027 at the earliest if a decision to participate in the tournament in Germany is made.

single athletes from Russia have the opportunity to take part in the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo as “neutral athletes”, provided they meet certain conditions. This includes disciplines such as figure skating, skyrocketing ice cream and shorttrack, where athletes from the International ISU Laufunion (ISU) were made possible to participate in qualification competitions, So EuroSport .

At the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, Russia competed under the name "Team of the Russian Olympic Committee" and was able to secure a silver medal in ice hockey. This partly controversial approach follows an earlier exclusion procedure after the doping scandal during the 2014 winter games in Sochi.

It remains to be seen how the situation will develop with regard to the Olympic competitions, especially since the discussions about the exclusion of Russia and the possibility of participating as a neutral athlete continue to be an important part of international sport.