GENEVA, 9 April. /The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in talks with winter sports federations about admitting Russians to the 2026 Olympic Games, 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 controls to individual eligibility checks, to make sure that the winter federations understand very well what has happened in the summer sports and how they can approach that with respect to their own individual sports," McConnell said.
The International Skating Union has allowed Russian athletes to qualify for the 2026 Olympics in a neutral position. A similar decision was made in the case of ski mountaineers. In 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 discipline. The Russian Figure Skating Federation also had the right to enter one couple and one dance duo.
"As far as the winter federations are concerned, we have been talking to many of them to explain the experience in Paris, where the return was very smooth. There [are] very clear protocols on eligibility review that exist in a very large number of Summer Olympic federations. So those discussions are ongoing and you have seen the return of ski mountaineering and the planned return of ice skating and other winter federations," McConnell noted.
The 2026 Olympic Games will be held in Italy from 6 to 22 February.
TASS/gnews.cz-jav
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