Athletes still can't represent Russia in Winter Olympics even if war with Ukraine ends, IOC chief says

Russian athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will compete only as individuals, with no national flag or anthem, regardless of any peace deal with Ukraine, IOC President Kirsty Coventry confirmed. The Games, running February 6–22, will also set a precedent for multi-city Olympic hosting.

REUTERS

January 2, 2026

Russian athletes to compete only as individuals at Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, IOC rules out national representation

Reuters

ROME – Russian athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will not be allowed to represent their country, even if a peace deal is reached with Ukraine, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry said in an interview with an Italian newspaper.

“Nothing at this stage would change the Committee’s decision allowing Russian athletes to take part in the February games only as individuals representing themselves,” Coventry told Corriere della Sera in an interview published Friday.

The IOC banned Russia and Belarus following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In September, the IOC ruled that Russian and Belarusian athletes competing at Milano Cortina would do so as individuals, without a national flag or anthem.

Coventry, the IOC’s first female president, also said holding the Olympics across multiple cities, as Italy is doing, is likely to become “the new normality,” and that the Milano Cortina Games would provide useful guidance for the future.

The IOC did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters to confirm Coventry’s remarks.

The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will run from February 6 to 22.

-Reporting by Enrico Sciacovelli; Editing by Gavin Jones and Kate Mayberry/Reuters