IOC suspends Russian Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) following its executive board meeting here on Thursday, but no decision has been made yet on whether Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at Paris 2024 as neutrals, reported Xinhua.

"The unilateral decision taken by the Russian Olympic Committee on 5 October 2023 to include, as its members, the regional sports organizations which are under the authority of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine (namely Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia) constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter," the IOC said in a statement.

As a consequence, the ROC is no longer entitled to operate as a National Olympic Committee, as defined in the Olympic Charter, and cannot receive any funding from the Olympic Movement, added the statement.

The IOC also said that it "reserves the right to decide about the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian passport in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at the appropriate time."