MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. A shift in any international sports organization's policy towards allowing the participation of Russian athletes at the global sports tournaments should only be welcomed, Russia’s Olympic champion in gymnastics Nikita Nagorny told TASS on Monday.
"All news about any international federations' decision to admit Russian athletes makes me happy," Nagorny, the gold medalist of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo said.
"It's great when athletes, who devoted their lives to what they chose to do, get the chance once again of competing internationally, to win medals that they can bring home," he added.
Nagorny, 27, is also the two-time bronze medalist of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (in men’s all-around and horizontal bars events) as well as the silver medalist of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (in men’s team event).
Last week, the International Skating Union (ISU) announced a decision to clear Russian and Belarusian athletes for the Olympic qualifiers, but only under strict conditions, which among other things prohibit national flags and anthems during the qualifying events.
According to the world’s governing body of ice skating sports, "Only one neutral athlete (including one pair in Pair Skating and one couple in Ice Dance) from the ISU Members in Russia (Russian Skating Union and the Figure Skating Federation of Russia) and only one neutral athlete (including one pair for Pair Skating and one couple for Ice Dance) from the Skating Union of Belarus may be eligible to participate per event in designated OQS competitions, with no relay or team participation."
Ice skating athletes from Russia and Belarus have been barred from taking part in international tournaments since March 1, 2022 due to the Ukraine conflict.
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo between February 6 and 22, 2026.
IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.