{"id":30644,"date":"2026-04-02T15:57:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=30644"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:57:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:57:28","slug":"ukraine-asks-ioc-to-examine-neutral-status-of-russian-athletes","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/ukraine-asks-ioc-to-examine-neutral-status-of-russian-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine asks IOC to examine &#8216;neutral&#8217; status of Russian athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">Sports authorities in Ukraine asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday to examine the &#8220;neutral&#8221; status of Russian athletes they accused of having links to \u200bthe military or competing in events that violated Olympic sanctions.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">\nThe IOC \u200callowed a limited number of athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2026 Milan Winter Games with no flags or anthems, subject \u200bto vetting.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">This included stipulations that athletes not be linked to the military \u200bor have supported Moscow&#8217;s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">An appeal signed by \u2060Ukrainian Sports Minister Matvii Bidny and National Olympic Committee head Vadym Guttsait \u200bsaid they had compiled evidence that some athletes had flouted recommendations established by \u200bthe IOC in 2023, more than a year after Russia&#8217;s full-scale invasion.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">The appeal cited in particular &#8220;systematic violations&#8221; in sports climbing and its governing federation, the IFSC.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The Ukrainian side has provided \u200bevidence of direct links between a number of athletes and the military structures \u200bof the aggressor state,&#8221; the statement said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">It cited several athletes the officials alleged had links \u200cwith \u2060the military, supported the invasion or had trained in Crimea, seized and annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">It also said an international competition was held in Moscow last November under the auspices of the CISM (International Military Sports Council) \u200bin violation of IOC \u200brules.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8220;This confirms the \u2060involvement of Russian military structures in the international sports movement with the aim of legitimising Russia&#8217;s aggressive policy,&#8221; the \u200bappeal said.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8220;The Ukrainian side calls on the leadership of the \u200bIOC and \u2060the IFSC to conduct a comprehensive review of these facts and to suspend the individuals in question from international competitions.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div>Some sports bodies have eased restrictions on Russian \u2060and \u200bBelarusian athletes. The International Paralympic Committee allowed athletes \u200bfrom the two countries to compete at the recent games in Italy with anthems and flags, drawing \u200bprotests from Ukraine and other countries.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21315,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-30644","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Some sports bodies have eased restrictions on Russian \u2060and \u200bBelarusian athletes.","published_date":"","news_description":"Some sports bodies have eased restrictions on Russian \u2060and \u200bBelarusian athletes.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30645,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30644\/revisions\/30645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=30644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}