Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete under their national flags at international swimming and aquatic sports events after the sport’s governing body lifted a ban on their participation.
World Aquatics announced the decision on Monday, ending restrictions imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
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The move signalled a further easing of limits on two countries’ athletes, who have been allowed to compete as neutrals since September 2023.
“Following a decision of the World Aquatics bureau, and in consultation with the aquatics integrity unit (AQIU) and the World Aquatics athletes’ committee, the guidelines for athlete participation in aquatics events during a period of political conflict will no longer apply to senior athletes with Belarusian or Russian sport nationality,” a World Aquatics statement read.
“Senior athletes with Belarusian or Russian sport nationality will be permitted to compete in World Aquatics events in the same way as their counterparts representing other sport nationalities, with their respective uniforms, flags and anthems.”
Athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus, which was used as a staging area for attacking Ukraine, will be permitted to compete only after they have successfully passed at least four consecutive anti-doping controls, World Aquatics said.
“We are determined to ensure that pools and open water remain places where athletes from all nations can come together in peaceful competition,” World Aquatics President Husain al-Musallam said in a statement.
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World Aquatics has followed the International Paralympic Committee, which allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own national flags at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina in February.
That decision followed the disqualification from the Olympic Winter Games of Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war.
The next world swimming championships will take place in Hungary’s capital, Budapest, in 2027.
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