Track and field’s international governing body will maintain its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes for the 2024 Paris Olympics barring unforeseen developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe told a small group of reporters Monday.
The International Olympic Committee, which is not inviting official delegations from Russia or Belarus to Paris because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, ruled earlier this month that athletes from those nations can compete as neutral athletes if ruled eligible by their sport’s international federation, essentially leaving Russian participation up to individual sports.
“Our stance is clear,” Coe said. “There’s no chance that we’re going to revisit that between now and Paris unless circumstances dramatically alter between Russia and Ukraine.”
World Athletics has been staunch in its prohibition of Russian athletes since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Before the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Ore., Coe said it would be “inconceivable” to permit “two aggressor nations who walked into an independent state” to compete.
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Ukrainian athletes have supported the decision, with some suggesting they would boycott championships if forced to run, jump or throw against Russians. “We won’t compete with murderers,” hurdler Anna Ryzhykova said at the 2022 world championships.
World Athletics recently created a working group that will monitor the Russia-Ukraine war and consider what circumstances would be required to reconsider the Russian ban. But Coe said it is “highly unlikely” the working group would provide any guidance before next summer’s Olympics.
“It’s an extra level of understanding,” Coe said. “Look, the world changes quickly. I don’t know. You don’t know. Very few people have been able to predict very much in the last few years. The situation at the moment looks pretty impacted. It doesn’t look as though it’s going to change anytime soon. But we would always be responsive if it did.”
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The IOC’s patchwork approach to Russian inclusion stems in part from the decision World Athletics (then IAAF) made to ban Russia’s track and field team from the 2016 Olympics because of Russia’s state-sponsored doping program. In Tokyo, World Athletics permitted just 10 athletes to compete under the Russian Olympic Committee flag.
The International Gymnastics Federation will allow independent athletes from Russia to compete starting Jan. 1, and swimming’s international federation made a similar decision earlier this year.
“The IOC has probably done what they were always destined to do,” Coe said. “I hope those other international member federations that don’t necessarily see the world the way I do respect the decision we’ve made in the same way I respect the decision they’ve made.”
Coe also addressed World Athletics’ decision this year to tighten its policies regarding female athletes with elevated testosterone levels, whom it refers to as Differences of Sexual Development athletes. DSD athletes must take medication for six months to reduce their testosterone levels to be allowed to compete in any event, not just the 400 meters, 800 meters and 1,500 meters, which World Athletics has defined as restricted events since 2019. World Athletics also prohibited transgender athletes who transitioned from male to female beginning March 31 this year.
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“I’m elected to protect, preserve the female category,” Coe said. “If we don’t, then no woman is ever going to win another sporting event, particularly in track and field. The issue was very clear to us.”
Most affected athletes are from African countries. Namibian sprinter Christine Mboma won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the 200 meters after she dropped down from the 400, her specialty, when it was deemed a restricted event. Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi claimed fifth place in the 10,000 meters in Tokyo, moving up in distance after winning silver at 800 meters at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
“Our re-engineered approach was not based on any individual case study,” Coe said. “It’s not about individuals. It’s not about a country. It’s not about a continent.”
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