Russia Is Banned From the Olympics. But 2 Russian Figure Skaters Are Competing

The figure-skating events kick off on the day of opening ceremonies on Feb. 6 with the team event, a relatively new competition that debuted at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in which 10 countries participate, featuring skaters in each of the four skating disciplines—women’s, men’s, pairs, and ice dance. But a traditionally strong team will be missing from the roster—Russia.

Why Isn’t There a Team Representing Russia?

After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which began days after the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) “condemned” the  action, declaring that the war violated the Olympic Truce, which calls for a halt to armed conflicts before and after the Games, and the Olympic Charter. Initially, the IOC sanctioned both Russia and Belarus, which supported the invasion, and excluded any athletes from those countries from international competitions. It has since allowed individual Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at events, if they do so as neutral athletes. 

How Can Russians Compete if The Country Is Banned?

Today individual athletes from those countries can petition to compete, but not as Russians or Belarusians. They must compete as AIN (individual neutral athletes) and cannot display or wear their country’s flag. They also must meet certain criteria certifying they do not or have not supported the Russian military actions.

Are Any Russian Figure Skaters Participating?

Two Russian skaters, Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik, and one Belurusian, Viktoriya Safonova, have qualified for the Milano Cortina Olympics as neutral athletes. But because the team event requires each country to field a full slate of women, men, pairs, and ice-dance teams, they will both have to sit that one out.

Didn’t Russia Face a Controversy at the Last Olympics?

Even before the ban, the country’s participation in figure skating was shrouded in controversy. At the last Olympics in 2022, it was revealed that one of the women skaters who competed, Kamila Valieva, had tested positive for an illegal substance prior to the Games. The Russians finished first in the team event, but Valieva’s scores were later removed from the total, and the U.S. team, which had finished second, earned gold and received their medals two years later at the Summer Olympics in Paris.

The Russians’ absence will be felt most in the team, pairs, and ice-dance events, traditionally their strongest. But it’s an opportunity for the U.S., Canada, and Japan, all of whom have internationally recognized dance and pairs entrants, to earn points for their countries.