GENEVA, April 9. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is discussing with winter sports federations the admission of Russians to the 2026 Olympics, IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell told reporters.
"So we're really explaining the principles and also how the eligibility testing processes can work, everything from anti-doping checks to individual eligibility checks, to make sure that the winter federations have a very good understanding of what happened in the summer sports and how they can approach it with regard to their own individual sports," McConnell said.
The International Skating Union allowed Russian athletes to qualify for the 2026 Olympics in neutral status. A similar decision was made for ski mountaineers. At the qualifying events in speed skating, short track speed skating and figure skating, the federations have the right to nominate one Russian athlete in each event. The Russian figure skating federation also had the right to enter one pair and one dance duo.
"In terms of the winter federations, we have been in discussions with many of them to explain the experience in Paris, where it was a very smooth return. [There are] very clear protocols of eligibility review that exist in a very large number of summer Olympic federations. So those discussions are continuing and you have seen the return of ski mountaineering and the planned return of skating and the other winter federations," McConnell noted.
The 2026 Olympics will be take place in Italy on February 6-22.