Olympics: Russian athletes who don't back Ukraine invasion could compete - The Jerusalem Post

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering a return to competition of Russian athletes who do not support the country's invasion of Ukraine, IOC president Thomas Bach said on Friday.

The IOC issued guidance to sports governing bodies in February to remove Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition. Belarus has been used as a staging ground for Russia's invasion, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

"It is not about necessarily having Russia back. It's about having athletes with a Russian passport who do not support the war back in competition," Bach told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"Here comes our dilemma – this war has not been started by the Russian athletes. But we saw that some governments did not want to respect anymore the autonomy of international sports...

"This is why we've had to take these protective measures to be at least still a little bit in the driving seat and not lose all autonomy.