Olympics
On Tuesday, October 21, the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) voted to extend the current ban on Russian and Belarusian snow-sport athletes for the 2025-26 season. Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned since the start of the war on Ukraine from competing in any FIS events. The extension of the ban means that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be unable to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, as they have no means of qualifying, because FIS-sanctioned competitions serve as the only qualification pathway.
“The FIS Council convened this Tuesday and voted not to facilitate the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) in FIS qualification events for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games.”
-FIS
The decision comes despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having previously announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete under the AIN scheme—provided they qualify through existing sanctioned events and meet strict neutrality criteria. The IOC had earlier decided that Russian teams would not be allowed to participate in the 2026 Winter Games.
With FIS opting out, that pathway for skiers and snowboarders is now blocked. The FIS decision mirrors an earlier move by the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which closed that federation’s qualification route to the Olympics for Russian and Belarusian athletes in 2022. The decision does not come as a surprise for most, as the IBU had not entertained any notion of talking about the admission of these athletes to the 2026 Games.
Bans on athletes from specific nations are far from unique in Olympic history. After World War I, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey were banned from the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium. Germany’s ban extended all the way to the 1924 Summer Games in Paris, France. German athletes were banned again after World War II, alongside Japanese athletes, from participating in the 1948 Summer Games in London, England. South Africa was banned from the Olympics between 1964 and 1992 due to the country’s apartheid policies, while neighboring Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was banned in 1972 from the Munich Summer Games.
The decision comes as a huge blow to many Russian athletes who had held on to hope to be able to qualify as AIN for the 2026 Winter Games. Many insiders had felt that FIS was leaning towards allowing Russian athletes to compete as AIN at the upcoming 2025-26 World Cup, and FIS President Johan Eliasch was allegedly pushing to allow neutral Russians to participate in the upcoming season. However, the national ski associations voted against the FIS President.
The Russian Ski Federation reacted strongly after the FIS announcement and threatened possible legal actions. “This decision continues the discriminatory approach towards our athletes, which contradicts the fundamental principle of political neutrality enshrined in the FIS statutes. We continue to strongly argue for equal and fair treatment of our athletes,” the federation wrote in a public statement.
Whether it is right to punish individual athletes for the actions of their home country is debatable. Critics argue that sports should remain separate from politics, allowing athletes, who have no role in government decisions or military involvement, to pursue their athletic dreams without bearing the weight of international conflicts. Supporters of the ban argue that the Russian participation would fly in the face of the Olympic spirit and risk normalizing aggression. The FIS decision, like earlier bans in Olympic history, reflects the difficult balance between athletic fairness and moral accountability.
