According to the statement, Coe said that the Council confirmed the working group’s recommendation on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and acknowledged that the current sanctions are standard and do not need to be replaced or modified.

Russian athletes have been banned from major international competitions since March 2022, following the escalation of the situation in Ukraine, despite updated recommendations from the International Olympic Committee to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under neutral conditions. Russian athletes lost the right to compete in foreign tournaments under the country’s flag back in 2017, and were previously forced to skip the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil (with the exception of long jumper Daria Klishina, who lived in the United States).

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