World Athletics rejects IOC proposal to lift Belarus ban

World Athletics has rejected a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee that a ban on Belarusian athletes and teams competing under the flag of their nation should be lifted. On Thursday, the IOC's executive board urged international sports federations and event organisers to allow the country to return to international competition, while keeping restrictions on Russia in place. Both countries were suspended from Olympic competition after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Belarus a close ally of Russia. A partial ban - allowing athletes to compete as neutrals - was introduced in 2023. The IOC said , external that unlike Russia, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Belarus "is in good standing and complies with the Olympic Charter". It said that since 2023 "athletes with a Belarusian passport have participated as individual neutral athletes (AINs) in numerous international sporting events, as well as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, without any incident on or off the field of play. It added that it "reaffirms that athletes' participation in international competition should not be limited by the actions of their governments, including involvement in a war or conflict". …