The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Kirsty Coventry has made a statement that gives hope for the full admission of Russian athletes to the Olympic Games.

“Sport must remain a beacon of hope – a place where people can come together in peaceful competition,” Coventry said at a meeting of the European Olympic Committees in Brussels. – This is the essence of “Olympism”: every athlete, team and official allowed to compete should be able to participate in them without discrimination or political interference.

Host countries and organizers must guarantee access for all and respect the universality and autonomy of sport. If you had decided to impose sanctions on me when my country was going through a crisis, I would not have been able to attend the Olympic Games. I would not have won Olympic medals. My path would be completely different than it is now.

Sport has changed my life. And I am very grateful for that, and I will fight every day so that athletes from all over the world have equal opportunities.”

At first glance, these words contradict the IOC’s policy of not allowing Russian athletes to attend the Winter Olympic Games in Milan. But – only at first glance.

1. Coventry makes an important clarification: every “eligible athlete” (in the original). In the case of Russians, this means an athlete who has received a neutral status and has been selected by the admission committee.

Discrimination based on a sport (for example, a ban on team sports) or criteria of neutrality is a separate topic that Coventry does not talk about. Admission is the main and only condition, and only after it can we talk about performances “without discrimination and political interference.”

Theoretically, the Russians still have a chance to compete at the Winter Games as a full-fledged team with a flag and anthem. Mikhail Degtyarev, the head of our sport, hopes that the IOC will return to discussing our issue at the next executive committee, which will be held on December 9-10 in Lausanne.

If the status of the Russian Olympic Committee as an IOC member is restored, restrictions on the admission of athletes will be lifted automatically.

But it is not even clear yet whether the issue of ROC membership will be included in the agenda. The signals are contradictory: in October, Coventry met with the president of the NOC of Ukraine, Vadim Gutzeit, and, according to him, assured that the Russian and Belarusian teams would not have flags at the upcoming Olympic Games.

On the other hand, the recent quote that “athletes from all over the world should have equal opportunities” gives hope that the issue has not been definitively resolved. 

3. Coventry does not accidentally say that “host countries and organizers must guarantee access for all and respect the universality and autonomy of sport.” In recent months, there have been several scandals in world sports related to the fact that athletes from a particular country could not get to the start due to the discriminatory visa policy of the host country.

So, Israel was left without the World Gymnastics Championships (it was held in Indonesia, with which the country has no diplomatic relations), and our swimmers did not go to the European Short Course Championships in Poland.

The IOC condemned Indonesia’s actions and recommended that international federations not hold tournaments there. The Russian side’s attempt to achieve the same sanctions against Poland has not yet brought results. 

4. Currently, three Russian athletes have qualified for the 2026 Games in Milan.: Figure skaters Adelia Petrosyan and Peter Gumennik, Nikita Filippov from ski mountaineering. The fight for Olympic quotas in short track and speed skating continues.

There are precedents in bobsleigh and luge, where they tried to get admission through the courts. But despite the favorable CAS decisions, even the criteria for neutral status have not yet been published in these sports.

And the selection for the Games through the World Cup, for example, in a sleigh starts on December 5. So for now, the probability of Russians competing at the Olympics in these sports is only theoretical. 

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5. The 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles are still two and a half years away. And the Russian side confidently assesses the prospects of performing there as a full-fledged team with a flag.

“We have done everything except two things – the flag and the anthem. This is the main goal for 2026. My forecast is that after the Winter Olympics, we will also return the flag with the anthem. But this is politics. If something bad doesn’t happen on the international stage, if everything stays as it is, then in May 2026 the Russian national team will come out with its flag and anthem,” said Dmitry Mazepin, head of the Aquatics Federation.

“A full–fledged return to world sport” is the main goal for Mikhail Degtyarev.

However, he talks cautiously about Milan 2026 in this context. It seems that now the main hopes are connected with Los Angeles.