Ukraine appeals IOC decision to reinstate Russia’s Olympic committee

Ukraine's National Olympic Committee filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport on July 28 challenging the International Olympic Committee's decision to provisionally reinstate the Russian Olympic Committee, escalating a dispute over Russia's path back into the Olympic movement ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Games.reuters+1

The Appeal

The NOC of Ukraine said the IOC's July 7 decision to lift the ROC's suspension was "made prematurely and without proper verification of whether the violations — which led to the suspension of the ROC following the appeal by the NOC of Ukraine on October 6, 2023 — had actually been resolved."reuters

The Ukrainian body, working with the country's Ministry of Youth and Sports and the law firm Ilyashev & Partners, requested that CAS annul the IOC decision, arguing it contradicts the Olympic Charter and ignores the circumstances that led to the ROC's suspension. The NOC pointed out that in 2024, CAS itself "confirmed the legality of the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee, recognising that the inclusion of sports organizations from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine."unn+1

Ukraine also noted that after the IOC decision, ROC leadership publicly stated it continues to consider occupied Ukrainian territories as part of Russia's sports space — undermining the IOC's rationale for lifting the suspension.unn

What the IOC Decided

The IOC Executive Board provisionally lifted the ROC's suspension on July 7 and scrapped restrictions on Russian athletes that had been in place since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The decision allows Russian athletes to compete in team events and qualifying competitions for the LA 2028 Olympics, though the IOC has not said whether Russia's flag and anthem would be restored. Russian athletes competed as neutrals at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.france24+2

The ROC had been suspended in October 2023 for recognizing regional Olympic councils in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.reuters

What Comes Next

Neither the IOC nor Russia immediately commented on the appeal, according to France 24. Ukraine argued that "reinstating the ROC's rights without effectively addressing these violations is incompatible with the principles of international sports law and sets a dangerous precedent for the entire Olympic Movement."france24+1