The qualification window for the LA28 Olympic Games opens this summer. That timing makes World Athletics’ decision all the more significant — and all the more firm.
World Athletics holds the line on Belarus ban
On May 7, 2026, the IOC’s executive board issued a formal recommendation urging international sports federations to allow Belarusian athletes and teams to return to competition under their national flag. The move drew an immediate and unambiguous response from World Athletics : no.
The governing body of track and field made its position crystal clear through an official spokesperson, stating that sanctions established in March 2022 — excluding Belarusian and Russian athletes, officials, and supporting personnel from competition — remain entirely in place. No exceptions. No timeline for review tied to calendar pressure.
To understand why this matters, consider the context. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Within weeks, World Athletics moved to suspend both Russia and Belarus, given Belarus’s role as a staging ground for Russian military operations. That decision, revisited in 2023 and again in 2025, has remained consistent despite ongoing pressure from different corners of the international sports community.
The IOC’s argument rests on a specific distinction : unlike Russia, the National Olympic Committee of Belarus is described as “in good standing” and compliant with the Olympic Charter. The IOC also pointed out that since 2023, Belarusian athletes competing as individual neutral athletes (AINs) participated in multiple international events — including the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games — without any reported incident on or off the field of play.
| Country | Status since 2022 | AIN participation allowed | IOC May 2026 recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | Suspended | Limited (case by case) | Restrictions maintained |
| Belarus | Suspended | Yes (since 2023) | Full return under national flag |
World Athletics is not swayed by that logic. The federation’s stance is that geopolitical involvement in an active war cannot be separated from questions of sporting eligibility — a direct contradiction of the IOC’s stated principle that “athletes’ participation in international competition should not be limited by the actions of their governments.”
Peace negotiations, not IOC decisions, will drive any change
What makes World Athletics’ position particularly robust is the clarity of its condition for review. The federation’s council has stated plainly : tangible movement toward peace negotiations is the threshold. Not compliance with administrative charters. Not a clean record at past Games. Actual, measurable steps toward ending the war in Ukraine.
That framing puts the decision in a completely different register from the IOC’s approach. Where the IOC focuses on procedural compliance — is the NOC in good standing ? have athletes behaved properly ? — World Athletics anchors its policy to the underlying armed conflict itself. It’s a principled distinction, and frankly, a more coherent one given the scale of what happened in February 2022.
The spokesperson’s statement also underlined something important : the council is united. This isn’t a close vote or a contested internal debate. Since March 2022, World Athletics has revisited this question twice — in 2023 and in 2025 — and reached the same conclusion each time. That consistency is not accidental.
Here’s what that condition for review actually requires, according to World Athletics’ framework :
- Demonstrable progress in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine
- A formal council review triggered by that diplomatic movement
- A new decision by the governing council — not a unilateral administrative adjustment
None of those conditions are currently met. The conflict in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, shows no credible sign of formal negotiation. For World Athletics, that settles the matter — at least for now.
What this means heading into the LA28 cycle
The timing of this dispute is not incidental. Qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games officially begins this summer, as does the eligibility window for the Dolomiti Valtellina 2028 Winter Youth Olympic Games. For Belarusian track and field athletes specifically, World Athletics’ refusal to lift its ban means they cannot accumulate qualifying points or results under any national designation — not even as neutrals within World Athletics competitions.
This creates a concrete, measurable disadvantage. An athlete who cannot compete in World Athletics-sanctioned events over the next two years will simply not have the results needed to qualify for LA28 through track and field pathways. The IOC’s recommendation, however well-intentioned, carries no authority over individual federation rules.
It’s worth remembering that World Athletics — led since 2019 by Sebastian Coe — has consistently positioned itself as one of the more assertive federations on matters of integrity and geopolitical responsibility. Its response to the IOC on May 7 fits that pattern exactly. Rather than softening its stance ahead of a major qualification cycle, the federation held firm precisely because that cycle is starting.
If you follow this issue closely, watch for two signals : any formal diplomatic development between Moscow and Kyiv, and whether other major federations — swimming, gymnastics, cycling — follow the IOC’s lead or align with World Athletics. That divide could define how the entire Olympic movement handles state-sponsored conflict for the next decade.
