The International Olympic Committee has lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and withdrawn previous recommendations to its international federations, paving the way for Russian athletes to return to Olympic competition at Los Angeles 2028 and the next Winter Olympics in 2030.

This will only add to the pressure on World Curling to reverse its four-year suspension of Russian curling athletes, pressure that has been building for months.

Tuesday’s IOC executive board decision was unveiled after the organization had reinforced its charter “aimed at strengthening neutrality” and made multiple public statements that athletes should not be responsible for the actions of their governments.

IOC representatives pointed out that the organization still supports Ukraine; that Tuesday’s announcement is provisional; that the IOC will not host IOC events in Russia nor invite Russian government or state officials to its events; and that decisions on allowing displays of the Russian flag, anthem, colours or any identifications for the Olympic Games will be made at a future date.

The IOC also reinforced that international federations, including World Curling, can decide to reverse or maintain competition bans within their sport spheres.

World Curling took a first step toward Russian reconciliation in January, by announcing a pair of young Russian athletes would compete at the World Junior Mixed Championship in Edmonton, Alta.

However, on the eve of the event, the Canadian government refused to issue travel visas to the athletes.

Russia has since appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over World Curling’s refusal to remove the competition suspension on Russian adult curlers. As the World Curling Federation is registered in Switzerland, Russia has also requested arbitration of the most recent WCF decision to maintain the suspension.

Pressure can also be felt from the growing list of other sport federations that have reinstated Russian athletes – from aquatics and most combat sports to fellow winter sports bobsleigh/skeleton and, possibly, ice hockey. 

However, one major sport is maintaining its strict exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes. 

On July 5, World Athletics upheld its ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes following a review of potential updates to the sanctions originally imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“We presented options for (our) council to consider on this matter,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. “However, the original decision remains on the sanctions that protect the integrity and fairness of our competitions, with no tangible movement towards peace negotiations having materialized.”

World Athletics highlighted the wider, devastating impact of the war on Ukrainian athletics, noting severe disruptions to domestic calendars, compromised training infrastructure and great difficulties faced by athletes trying to earn global ranking points.

Ukrainian high-performance curling athletes have also struggled to maintain training and competition standards during the war. However, their men’s team scored an unexpected Euro C silver medal in 2022 before going a step further and winning an unprecedented gold medal at the 2023 championships.