Olympic champion and ice dance great Tatyana Navka remains hopeful about Russia’s possibility to compete at the 2024 Paris Games. The sentiment she expresses is not a pledge, but a belief that diplomacy and sport can still find common ground even in tense times. She notes that the invitation to Paris is not yet guaranteed, but that reason should guide the decision makers who shape the Olympic landscape.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has set July 26 as the date when invitations for the Games will be extended. Russia and Belarus are currently not invited to participate, a decision connected to the ongoing military operation in Ukraine. The stance reflects a broader conversation about how international sport should respond to geopolitical crises while attempting to preserve the integrity and spirit of the Games.
Earlier in 2022, the IOC urged international sports federations to bar Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition to avoid any appearance of political alignment influencing events. In late March 2022, during a meeting of the IOC executive committee, there was discussion about allowing Russians to compete under a neutral status provided they were not actively supporting hostilities. This nuance aimed to separate athletic competition from politics while still honoring the global consequences of the conflict.
Vyacheslav Fetisov, a former State Duma deputy, has publicly stated that Russia has not yet found a path to the Olympics under current conditions. This sentiment mirrors a broader hesitancy in some quarters about whether the absence of Russia and Belarus at the Paris Games will change the competitive balance, or whether a neutral status could ever be sufficient to satisfy both sport’s ideals and political realities. In the meantime, athletes and officials continue to monitor developments and weigh possible alternatives, including future championships or different international platforms where competition and diplomacy might intersect more smoothly.