IOC defends Russian Olympic Committee reinstatement after EU countries call for funding cuts

GENEVA – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended its decision to provisionally lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) after nine European Union member states called on Brussels to stop funding sports bodies that have re-admitted Russian and Belarusian athletes.

In a letter to European sports commissioner Glenn Micallef, the countries urged the EU to stop funding sporting bodies, including the IOC, World Aquatics and the International Fencing Federation, that had allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes back into competition.

The nine countries are Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden.

An IOC spokesperson told Reuters that the ROC’s suspension, which had been in place since October 2023, was lifted earlier in July after the organisation removed regional sports bodies from occupied Ukrainian territories from its membership, the reason it was originally sanctioned.

The IOC said the decision was provisional and did not signal a broader change in its position towards Russia.

“The IOC has to navigate the complex realities and consequences of the current geopolitical context,” the spokesperson said on July 15.

“The IOC must uphold its mission to preserve a values-based and truly global sporting platform that provides hope to the world.”

The spokesperson added that the IOC would continue not to hold events in Russia or invite Russian government officials to its events. No decision has been taken on the use of Russian flags, colours or the national anthem at future Olympics.

The IOC also noted that competitions outside the Olympics fall under the authority of the relevant international federations.

The Olympic body said it had also strengthened the Olympic Charter, requiring national Olympic committees to ensure athletes selected for the Games are chosen not only on sporting merit but also on their ability to act as role models who promote a peaceful society through sport.

The nine EU countries said allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to international competition overlooked the difficulties faced by Ukrainian athletes, many of whom have been displaced, lost access to training facilities or joined the military.

“Respect for human rights, the rule of law, and peaceful relations between nations are among the core principles underpinning international sport,” the countries wrote.

They added that arguments that sport can be separated from politics were difficult to sustain given the human toll of the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s close relationship with US President Donald Trump has ensured a successful World Cup and all eyes will be on IOC president Kirsty Coventry to see if she adopts a similar strategy ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Until now, it has been Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA28 organising committee, and his team who have been dealing with the US administration.

Former Zimbabwean swimmer Coventry, in charge for just over a year, is yet to meet Trump.

“Wasserman’s team’s mandate is to deliver the Games, protect the revenue, and ‘make the trains run on time’,” Terrence Burns, a former IOC marketing executive, told AFP.

“President Coventry’s mandate is to protect universality and the integrity of sport.

“Those two things run in parallel right up to the moment they don’t, and the moment they don’t is when relationships, not only contracts, matter.”

Chief among Coventry’s priorities is ensuring safe entry for the thousands of athletes who will compete at the Games.

In terms of numbers the World Cup is minuscule compared to the Olympics – 11,200 athletes, or 15,000 if you include the Paralympics, as opposed to 1,200 – but the US refused entry to FIFA-accredited Somali referee Omar Artan and also blocked some of the Iranian entourage.

“Managing the political dynamics counting down to LA28 is arguably president Coventry’s biggest challenge,” Michael Payne, a former head of marketing for the IOC who is well-informed on Olympic matters, told AFP.

“It is totally naive to think that you can have the whole world turn up without a strong engagement with the political authorities.

“Failure by the IOC leadership not to properly engage with the global political establishment is a recipe for disaster.”

It is one thing dealing with the political establishment and quite another dealing with the maverick that is Trump.

Asked in 2025 about how she intended to deal with Trump, Coventry said: “I have been dealing with, let’s say, difficult men in high positions since I was 20 years old.”

Burns, though, said: “Nobody handles him. The question is whether the IOC has a strategy that does not depend on personal chemistry.

“This means a private channel with a respected relationship, and hopefully, where no public statement demands a public response.”

Infantino has made much of his closeness to Trump – awarding him the much-ridiculed inaugural FIFA peace prize – but it has also created problems.

For example, Trump admitted he had intervened by calling Infantino to request that the red card given to US World Cup star Folarin Balogun be reviewed to allow him to play in the last-16 match against Belgium.

FIFA promptly suspended the one-match ban and Balogun was allowed to play, although co-hosts the US lost 4-1 and were eliminated.

Burns suggested if a similar situation had happened to a Cape Verde player, “a call from the President of Cape Verde would not have had a similar result”.

“The real lesson for president Coventry regarding Trump is never to mistake proximity for influence,” said Burns. “Infantino just made that mistake in front of the entire world.

“But, and this is important, in the end, Infantino’s No. 1 objective is a successful 2026 World Cup, and he is pragmatic enough to understand what it takes to do that.

“One may disagree with how he goes about it, but he’s operating in a very narrow lane with a definitive timeline.” REUTERS, AFP