War and unrest
FILE - Russian track cyclist Anastasiia Voinova holds her third place medal in the women's 500m time trial at the World Track Cycling championships in Hong Kong, Saturday, April 15, 2017. Voinova and Mariya Novolodskaya who won medals at the Tokyo Olympics have been ruled ineligible to race for beaching rules monitoring their neutrality during the war on Ukraine. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
Russian Olympic cycling medalists barred from races for lack of neutrality during war in Ukraine

May. 31, 2023 05:44 PM EDT

Ukraine set to boycott judo worlds after Russians allowed

Apr. 30, 2023 11:21 AM EDT
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Ukraine is set to boycott the world judo championships next week after the International Judo Federation signaled it will allow Russian and...

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, right, speaks at the opening of the executive board meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 28, 2023. The IOC Executive Board is set to discuss the results of consultations regarding the status of athletes from Russia and Belarus in its meeting set to run until March 30. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)
European lawmakers urge for Olympics ban on Russia, Belarus

By Graham Dunbar Apr. 25, 2023 02:06 PM EDT

Polish President Andrzej Duda, right, receives the Flame of Peace from President of the European Olympic Committee (EOC) Spyros Capralos during the handover ceremony for the European Games of Krakow-Malopolska 2023 at Rome's Ara Pacis museum, Italy, Monday, April 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Polish president Duda hails a European Games without Russia

By Graham Dunbar Apr. 03, 2023 04:29 PM EDT

FILE - International Olympic Committee, IOC, President Thomas Bach attends the opening of the Executive Board meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Dec. 5, 2022. Bach defended his organization's efforts to create a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to Olympic competition in a speech in his home country of Germany which took place amid a pro-Ukraine protest, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, (Denis Balibouse/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Olympic head slams 'deplorable' government views on Russia

By Graham Dunbar Mar. 30, 2023 10:07 AM EDT

Members of the Geneva branch of Ukrainian society in Switzerland protest during a rally to urge International Olympic Committee to reconsider their decision of participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes under white neutral flag at the next 2024 Paris Olympic Games, in front of the IOC headquarters, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
UN expert advising IOC gives views on Russians at Olympics

By Graham Dunbar Mar. 27, 2023 06:43 AM EDT

FILE - International Olympic Committee, IOC, President Thomas Bach attends the opening of the Executive Board meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Dec. 5, 2022. Bach defended his organization's efforts to create a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to Olympic competition in a speech in his home country of Germany which took place amid a pro-Ukraine protest, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, (Denis Balibouse/Pool Photo via AP, File)
IOC's Bach defends Russia stance amid pro-Ukraine protest

Mar. 22, 2023 06:15 PM EDT

FILE - Canada's Alex Bilodeau celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men's moguls final at the 2014 Winter Olympics, on Feb. 10, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. A group of 42 retired Canadian Olympians, including Bilodeau, urged the Canadian Olympic Committee Wednesday, March 8, 2023, to reject the idea of allowing Russians to participate in next year's Paris Games. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
Canadian Olympians push for opposition to Russians in Paris

By Eddie Pells Mar. 08, 2023 09:10 PM EST

Ukrainian diver Stanislav Oliferchyk prepares, during a practice session, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. The path to the 2024 Paris Olympics for Ukrainian athletes is clouded by war, anger and pain. Russian bombardments have wrecked training venues. Air raids disrupt training sessions. Athletes have lost family members and friends. Or they worry that they will. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
War, anger cloud Ukrainian athletes' path to Paris Olympics

By John Leicester Mar. 02, 2023 02:33 AM EST

FILE - The Olympic rings are set up at Trocadero plaza that overlooks the Eiffel Tower, a day after the official announcement that the 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be in the French capital, in Paris, France, on Sept. 14, 2017. One year after the invasion of Ukraine began, Russia's reintegration into the world of sports threatens to create the biggest rift in the Olympic movement since the Cold War.(AP Photo//Michel Euler, File)
Russia's sports exile persists 1 year after invading Ukraine

By The Associated Press Feb. 22, 2023 09:25 AM EST

IOC (International Olympic Committee) President Thomas Bach, right, stands in the finish area of the alpine ski, men's World Championship downhill, in Courchevel, France, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Nations: No clarity on neutrality, no Olympics for Russia

By Eddie Pells Feb. 20, 2023 08:00 AM EST

Vadym Gutzeit, Ukraine's Youth and Sport Minister and President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, talks during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb.14, 2023. Gutzeit has pushed for a total ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Paris Games in an interview with The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Ukrainian Olympic head on Russian rival: 'He is my enemy'

By John Leicester And Hanna Arhirova Feb. 15, 2023 05:13 AM EST

FILE- Olga Fatkulina and Vadim Shipachyov, of the Russian Olympic Committee, carry a flag into the stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, on Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing, where Russian athletes competed under the acronym ROC, for Russian Olympic Committee, for the third time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has previously said any neutral flag for Russia would be “stained with blood,” is set to address a group of sports ministers meeting to discuss Russian participation at next year’s Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Zelenskyy tells summit 'no place' for Russia at Olympics

Feb. 09, 2023 07:55 PM EST

Ukraine's Ivan Kovbasnyuk speeds down the course during the super G portion of an alpine ski, men's World Championship combined race, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Ukrainian skier pushes to keep Russians out of the Olympics

By Andrew Dampf Feb. 07, 2023 02:13 PM EST

FILE - A Russian flag is held above the Olympic Rings at Adler Arena Skating Center during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia on Feb. 18, 2014. Russia and its ally Belarus have been invited to compete at the Asian Games in the next step to qualify athletes for next year’s Paris Olympics. The arrangement has been brokered by the International Olympic Committee. The IOC indicated on Wednesday that it favours allowing Russians to compete at the 2024 Olympics as neutral athletes. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
Column: IOC talks tough on Russia — until Paris on horizon

By Paul Newberry Feb. 03, 2023 04:29 PM EST

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2014 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and IOC President Thomas Bach meet in the Bolshoi Ice Dome in Sochi, Russia. The question of if and how Russia competes at the Olympics hangs over the 2024 Paris Summer Games. Just as it has now for five straight Olympics during Thomas Bach’s leadership of the IOC. The Bach-led International Olympic Committee's support this week for some Russians to compete in Paris as neutrals was publicly challenged Friday, Jan. 27, 2023 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service via AP, file)
Olympic echoes of boycott era as Ukraine vs IOC intensifies

Feb. 03, 2023 03:12 PM EST

FILE- Gene Sykes claps after City Council voted 12-0 to endorse documents at the heart of its plan to stage the Summer Olympics for the third time since 1932, in Los Angeles on Aug. 11, 2017. The new leader of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has reiterated the federation’s support for exploring a way for Russian athletes to compete at the Paris Olympics as neutrals. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
USOPC: Russian pathway possible, but sanctions must remain

By Eddie Pells Feb. 01, 2023 08:59 PM EST

FILE - Former heavyweight boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko leaves after a meeting with German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck in Berlin, March 31, 2022. Olympic gold medalist Wladimir Klitschko has joined Ukraine’s fight against IOC plans to let some Russians compete at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, it was announced Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. The former heavyweight world champion has suggested in a video message sports leaders will be accomplices to the war if athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus can compete at the next Olympics. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)
Boxer Klitschko joins fight against Olympic path for Russia

By Graham Dunbar Jan. 31, 2023 11:05 AM EST

Bucha relatives gather to mourn the body of Oleksiy Zavadskyi, a Ukrainian serviceman who died in combat on January 15 in Bakhmut, during his funeral in Bucha, Ukraine, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Russia issue looms for Paris Olympics, Zelenskyy rebukes IOC

By Graham Dunbar Jan. 28, 2023 09:36 AM EST

International Olympic Committee, IOC, President Thomas Bach attends the opening of the Executive Board meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, Dec. 5, 2022. (Denis Balibouse/Keystone via AP, Pool)
USOPC sees 'impossible' hurdle to Russian return to Olympics

By Eddie Pells Dec. 12, 2022 12:36 PM EST