World Rowing retains neutral status for Russian and Belarusian rowers despite the IOC decision
World Rowing will not change the existing rules under which athletes holding Russian or Belarusian passports compete at international rowing events as individual neutral athletes. The international rowing federation confirmed that it had taken note of the decision adopted by the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee on 7 July 2026, which provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and withdrew the previous recommendation to international federations concerning restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes. However, this change in the Olympic framework will not automatically be transferred to rowing. World Rowing is maintaining the system expanded by its Executive Committee in February 2026, which allows Russian and Belarusian competitors to participate in all events under its jurisdiction, but without national identifiers. The decision confirms that, even after the IOC's change of position, international sports federations retain broad autonomy in determining the conditions of participation in their own competitions.
According to the position communicated by World Rowing to the Russian state agency TASS, the existing system already allows athletes holding Russian or Belarusian passports to compete at world rowing events as Individual Neutral Athletes, or AINs, under strict neutrality conditions. The federation also stressed that decisions on such matters are made by its Executive Committee. This means that, for the time being, Russian and Belarusian rowers will not compete under their national flags, in national colours or with other symbols of their countries, nor will the Russian or Belarusian anthem be played in their honour. Although the IOC has removed the recommendations that in recent years served as a common basis for restrictions in numerous sports, World Rowing has not concluded that this makes it necessary to immediately reopen the question of restoring national team identifiers. The federation has therefore separated the decision on an individual's right to compete from the decision on whether that participation also represents the country whose passport the athlete holds.
February rules expanded participation to all competitions
The current rowing framework was adopted on 18 February 2026, when World Rowing announced that the possibility of neutral participation would be extended to all competitions under its authority. The official announcement covered world championships, World Cup events, world indoor rowing championships, masters regattas, beach sprint finals and coastal rowing championships. This removed the previous model under which Russian and Belarusian athletes were eligible only for certain events and a limited number of disciplines or boat classes. World Rowing stated at the time that the expanded system was based on strict conditions of neutrality and independence and that its implementation would be monitored to preserve fair competition, athlete safety and the integrity of events. In the same announcement, the federation linked the approach to the principle that athletes should have access to international sport without political pressure, but also to their responsibility to respect Olympic values before, during and after competitions.
In practice, neutral status means that an athlete may compete, achieve results and win medals, but their participation is not presented as participation by Russia or Belarus. World Rowing explicitly prohibits the display of national flags, national colours and symbols, as well as the playing or singing of the anthems of the two countries. Such a model preserves individual access to competition while simultaneously limiting the institutional and symbolic presence of national federations. It is also important that the decision applies to athletes according to their citizenship, not only to teams officially entered under the name of a national federation. This is intended to prevent national affiliation from being indirectly reintroduced through equipment, ceremonies or official communications associated with results.
The February expansion represented a significant shift compared with the 2025 season. At that time, World Rowing allowed neutral athletes to compete at a limited number of events and in precisely defined categories, subject to eligibility checks, possible background checks and an enhanced anti-doping procedure conducted by the International Testing Agency. For example, at senior world championships and World Cup events, access was concentrated on singles, coxless pairs and double sculls, while broader rules applied to some junior competitions. The 2026 model opened the door to a considerably larger number of disciplines and events, but it did not remove the fundamental neutrality requirement. This is precisely why World Rowing now believes that it already has its own functional rules and that the IOC decision does not in itself require a new intervention.
What changed with the IOC decision of 7 July
On 7 July 2026, the IOC Executive Board provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee that had been in force since 12 October 2023. The suspension was originally imposed after the Russian Olympic body incorporated into its membership regional sports organisations from Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, territories that the IOC recognises as falling under the jurisdiction of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. The IOC concluded at the time that this violated the Olympic Charter and infringed the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian Olympic committee. Following a new legal and institutional assessment, the IOC concluded in July 2026 that the suspension was no longer applicable, but framed the decision as provisional, with the possibility of continued monitoring of the Russian committee's activities. At the same time, it was announced that the previous recommendations to international federations concerning the participation of Russian athletes were no longer applicable.
However, that decision does not mean that the rules in all sports change on the same day and in the same way. The Associated Press reported that the IOC's guidelines for the reintegration of Russian athletes are not binding on international federations, which govern their own competitions and regulations. Some federations may gradually restore Russian national teams, the flag and the anthem, others may retain neutral status, while some may continue with broader suspensions if they have their own legal and regulatory basis for doing so. World Rowing has chosen a middle approach: individual participation is permitted on a broad scale, but state representation is still not allowed. Its decision is therefore neither a complete ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes nor a return to the status national teams held before 2022.
The IOC also indicated that no final decision has yet been made on the use of the Russian flag, anthem and colours at future Olympic Games. According to official information and reports by international news agencies, requirements connected with the anti-doping system remain in force, while the IOC still does not plan to organise Olympic events in Russia or invite Russian state officials to its events. The Olympic body also reiterated its condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This combination of measures demonstrates that lifting the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee is not the same as the unconditional normalisation of all forms of Russian participation. It is a change in institutional status and a withdrawal of the general recommendation to federations, while many practical issues continue to be resolved separately.
Russia and Belarus are no longer in completely equal positions
In its rules, World Rowing continues to treat Russian and Belarusian athletes within the same neutral framework, although their positions within the Olympic movement began to diverge during 2026. In May, the IOC announced that it no longer recommended restrictions on Belarusian athletes, including teams, to international federations. As its justification, it stated that the National Olympic Committee of Belarus was in good standing and compliant with the Olympic Charter and that Belarusian athletes had competed at a number of international events without incidents. At the time of that decision, the Russian committee was still suspended, so the IOC stressed that the Russian case was legally different. Following the lifting of the suspension in July, that difference diminished, but World Rowing has not yet separated the regimes applying to the two groups of athletes.
Maintaining a single model makes it easier for World Rowing to apply the rules consistently during a season that is already under way. A change of status only a few weeks before major championships would raise questions concerning entries, equipment, medal ceremony protocols, rankings and the presentation of crews in official results. According to the federation's calendar, events taking place after 19 July include, among others, the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Duisburg from 23 to 26 July, the European Championships in Varese from 31 July to 2 August and the senior World Championships in Amsterdam from 24 to 30 August. Maintaining the existing rules gives all participants clear conditions ahead of those events. At the same time, it leaves open the possibility that the World Rowing Executive Committee may reconsider the policy after the season, particularly in the context of the qualification cycle for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Federation autonomy becomes crucial after the recommendations are withdrawn
The most important consequence of the IOC's move is not the automatic return of Russian athletes under national identifiers, but the transfer of even greater responsibility to international federations. While the recommendations issued in 2022 and 2023 provided a common framework for a large part of Olympic sport, their withdrawal creates room for different solutions. Each federation must assess its own security circumstances, anti-doping mechanisms, eligibility rules, the views of its members and the risk of legal disputes. In sports in which competitions are organised through national teams, a return may have different consequences than in disciplines with predominantly individual formats. Rowing additionally includes crews with several members, meaning that the boundary between individual and team participation is not always straightforward.
For the time being, World Rowing has addressed this issue by applying neutral status even when several athletes compete together in the same boat. A crew may participate in an event, but it does not represent Russia or Belarus through a flag, anthem, colours or official symbols. This interpretation enables broader sporting participation without the full restoration of national teams. At the same time, it demonstrates that the designation "individual neutral athlete" may, in technical terms, also cover members of multi-person boats, provided that each competitor meets the prescribed criteria. For organisers, this requires precise application of protocols, particularly in accreditation, the publication of start lists, ceremonies and results management.
The decision also has broader significance for the relationship between the IOC and international federations. The IOC sets the principles of the Olympic movement and decides on conditions at the Olympic Games themselves, but federations govern world championships, cups and qualification events. The withdrawal of the recommendation therefore neither abolishes their powers nor forces them to change their policies. Through this decision, World Rowing has made it clear that it will change its own framework only when its Executive Committee determines that the sporting, legal and organisational conditions for doing so exist. This also avoids the interpretation that every IOC decision instantly rewrites the rules of all sports.
Opposing reactions accompany the gradual reintegration
The IOC's policy change prompted strongly opposing reactions. The Ukrainian National Olympic Committee described the July decision as premature and unjustified while the Russian invasion continues and warned that Russia's return to the Olympic movement would run counter to the principles of peace, human dignity and international law. Russian authorities, on the other hand, welcomed the move as a step towards restoring the rights of their athletes. According to the Associated Press report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it was an important step and that Russian sporting institutions would continue working to return athletes to major international competitions. Russian rowing officials also expressed the expectation that the question of the flag and anthem could be reopened in the future.
For the time being, World Rowing is following neither the demand for a complete restoration of national symbols nor a policy of general exclusion. Its model permits competition, expands the number of available events and disciplines and maintains neutral presentation. This position attempts simultaneously to protect athletes' right of access to competition and reduce political symbolism at regattas. Whether this compromise will remain in place during the 2027 season will depend on decisions by the federation's Executive Committee, developments in IOC policy, anti-doping requirements and the positions of national members. For the 2026 season, however, the message is clear: Russian and Belarusian rowers may compete at World Rowing events, but only under neutral status and without national identifiers.
Sources:
- World Rowing – official decision of 18 February 2026 on extending neutral participation to all competitions and the conditions prohibiting national symbols (link)
- World Rowing – rules for the 2025 season with earlier restrictions by competition and discipline, background checks and enhanced anti-doping monitoring (link)
- International Olympic Committee – decision on the provisional lifting of the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and the discontinuation of the recommendations to international federations (link)
- International Olympic Committee – May 2026 decision to discontinue the recommended restrictions on Belarusian athletes and an explanation of the difference between the Belarusian and Russian cases (link)
- Inside the Games – report on World Rowing's decision to retain the existing neutral framework following the change in IOC policy (link)
- Associated Press – report on the non-binding nature of the IOC guidelines and the reactions of Russian and Ukrainian actors (link)
- Euronews – overview of the IOC decision, the Ukrainian reaction and unresolved questions concerning the flag, anthem and anti-doping conditions (link)
- World Rowing – official calendar of international rowing competitions for the 2026 season (link)