Russian skiers and snowboarders secured a legal victory on Tuesday, allowing them to participate as neutral athletes in the qualifying events for the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. This decision came after almost four years of exclusion following the conflict in Ukraine.
The appeal, supported by the Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyaryov, was directed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), overturning a previous ban imposed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) shortly after the military invasion in February 2022. CAS’s ruling marked another success for Russian and Belarusian winter sports competitors.
The FIS, responsible for nearly half of the Winter Games program with 57 out of 116 gold medal events, accepted the CAS decision and promptly released a policy document outlining the athlete vetting process.
Despite the positive outcome, Russian athletes and officials still face challenges in obtaining visas for countries hosting qualifying events such as alpine, cross-country, and freestyle skiing, along with snowboarding competitions.
Russian Sports Minister Degtyaryov anticipates a modest representation of around 15 Russian athletes at the Winter Games, significantly fewer than the team of over 200 athletes at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The delegation in Beijing competed under the neutral banner of the Russian Olympic Committee due to the enduring state doping scandal, securing 32 medals, including five golds.
The road to the Winter Olympics will be tough for the Russian athletes, as demonstrated by the recent luge test event in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where none finished above 19th place. However, it’s a crucial initial step towards the ultimate goal of competing at the Olympics.
The situation remains uncertain for Russian luge athletes, with some opting out of World Cup races in Winterberg, Germany, while others plan to participate in upcoming events in the U.S., which serve as Olympic qualifiers.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidance allows for neutral status approval in most sports as long as athletes have not publicly supported the military actions in Ukraine or have affiliations with military or state security agencies. FIS has committed to enforcing strict neutrality towards Russian and Belarusian athletes in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
CAS emphasized the protection of individuals from discrimination and mandated FIS to maintain political neutrality in its statutes. Both Russian and Belarusian athletes must meet FIS eligibility criteria to compete internationally.
The IOC will evaluate and invite Russian and Belarusian athletes to the Milan Cortina Winter Games based on their neutral status. Recently, two Russian figure skaters and one Belarusian skater received invitations to the Olympics from the IOC.
