Russia to Pay 116 Athletes Barred From Winter Olympics
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- Russian Olympic Committee announced cash payments to 116 Russian athletes barred from competing at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, with ROC chairman Mikhail Degtyarev calling the bans 'treacherous political decisions.'
- Degtyarev said the ROC executive committee decided Tuesday to award monetary bonuses while the body simultaneously pursues court action and negotiations to reinstate Russian athletes under the national flag and anthem.
- Only 13 Russian athletes were approved to compete as neutrals at the Milan-Cortina Games, and just one — Nikita Filippov — won a medal, taking silver in ski mountaineering.
- Russian and Belarusian athletes have been barred from most international competitions since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, though the IOC created a neutral-athlete pathway requiring competitors to demonstrate they have not actively supported the war.
- Six Russian and four Belarusian athletes competed under their national flag at the Winter Paralympic Games in March for the first time since 2014, after the International Paralympic Committee lifted its suspension of both nations in September.
Why it matters: With 116 athletes compensated but only 13 cleared to compete and just 1 medaling, the payments underscore the scale of Russia's Olympic isolation since 2022. The Paralympics already restored the Russian and Belarusian flags in March, showing Moscow's parallel legal and lobbying push is starting to crack the international sports ban.
