Russian athletes at the Winter Olympics
Sources from the Swedish TV channel SVT sport say that the IOC has appealed to the winter sports federations and insisted that they allow Russians and Belarusians to compete in tournaments in a "neutral" status.
If the Russians and Belarusians receive this permission, they will be able to qualify for the Olympic Games in Italy in 2026. They will compete without a flag, anthem and national symbols. The IOC does not recommend allowing active servicemen of the Russian army, members of security forces and athletes who supported the war to compete.
Two organizations have already allowed “neutral” athletes to participate in the qualifying competitions, including 26 skaters and 5 ski mountaineers. One of them is 33-year-old mountaineer Varvara Prokhorova. She is a warrant officer in the Russian Armed Forces and a member of CSKA, an organization subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Defense that trains the military and publicly supports the war. In December, Prokhorova won a trophy for winning the “Russialoppet” ski marathon. The certificate she received shows a map of Russia, which includes the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Warrant Officer Prokhorov (second from the left) at the Extreme Sports Festival, 2016. She is also a CSKA athlete (on the right). Prokhorova (first left) holds a certificate for winning the ski marathon. It shows Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk regions marked in Russian, December 2023.
The federations responsible for biathlon and ice hockey have banned the participation of “neutral” athletes. The remaining organizations “are not yet considering the possibility of their participation”, but are discussing the issue at meetings. For example, the president of the International Ski Federation believes that Russians and Belarusians should still take part in the competitions.
Russians at the IOC who are helping to bring back Russian athletes
In March 2025, 77-year-old tennis player Shamil Tarpishchev was re-elected as an IOC member and works on “Olympism365”, a commission that advises the IOC Session, Executive Board, and President on how to achieve "a positive social impact of sport and Olympism".
Russian leader Vladimir awards Shamil Tarpishchev the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd degree, in the Kremlin, 2018.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
In Russia, Tarpishchev is the president of the Tennis Federation and a member of the presidential council on physical culture and sports. In October 2022, he supported mobilization in Russia, saying that creating volunteer units of professional Russian athletes was a good idea. In 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions against him.
In August 2024, the Shamil Tarpishchev Childrenʼs International Tennis Academy, which he directs, held a master class for "Special Military Operation participants" who were undergoing rehabilitation. A month later, the academy launched a year-long tennis training course for Russian fighters with disabilities. News about these classes is published on the official website of the Russian Tennis Federation, which Tarpishchev also directs.
A plot with "Special Military Operation fighters" who are learning to play tennis during rehabilitation at the Shamil Tarpishchev Childrenʼs International Tennis Academy.
Tarpishchev considers the neutral status of Russians at the Olympic Games to be a formality, because “everyone knows that they are Russians anyway”. According to him, at competitions with Russian tennis players, “everyone is friends, even Ukrainians”, despite “difficult times”. He calls the question of whether the Russians will be given back the right to compete under their flag “creative and debatable”. At first, he believes that the powers of the Russian Olympic Committee need to be restored. Tarpishchev is promoting this idea to the IOC.
Alexander Popov (54) and Vitaliy Smirnov (90) are honorary members of the IOC. They cannot vote at committee sessions, but they can participate in them and promote their ideas. In 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions against them.
Vitaliy Smirnov and Vladimir Putin at the IOC session in July 2007. At this meeting, the Committee decided that the 2014 Winter Olympics would be held in Sochi, Russia.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
Smirnov believes that the Americans are interested in Russia participating in the Olympic Games. And the duel between the USA and Russia will be the main highlight of the competition. He is promoting this idea to the IOC.
Popov organized and participated in a swimming championship for the Russian Guard and law enforcement agencies in October 2022. He does not participate in committee meetings on principle, as he finds it humiliating that Russians are only allowed to compete under a neutral flag. He will return only after the organization apologizes and cancels this rule.