The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended the Russian National Olympic Committee (ROC) over its inclusion of four annexed Ukrainian territories. The IOC executive made this decision on Thursday (10/12/23) in Mumbai, India.
A week ago, the ROC accepted the regional sports organizations of the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk as members. This constituted a breach of the IOC Charter and violated the territorial integrity of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, the Executive Committee decided.
ROC announces lawsuit
The suspension leaves the IOC’s payments to the ROC suspended. Because of the attack on Ukraine, the IOC had already frozen the distribution of marketing revenue to Russia’s Olympic representation. The ROC announced that it would appeal this decision in a court in Switzerland, where the IOC is based.
No decision on whether Russian athletes will take part in the Olympics
IOC spokesman Mark Adams made it clear that the suspension of the ROC has no impact on the final decision on the participation of athletes from Russia in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The recommendation to the world associations to include Russian and Belarusian athletes as “neutral athletes” remains in force and the decision will continue “at a given time” fall.