Russia And Belarus Figure Skaters Banned Over Ukraine Invasion, Keeping Olympic Trio Out Of World Championships

deadline.com:

The international union that governs skating said Tuesday that it was following the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee in banning athletes from Russia and Belarus from its competitions across the sports of figure skating and speed skating.

It becomes the latest organization in the sports world to take action since Russia began its military invasion of Ukraine.The IOC on Monday took the unprecedented step of calling on sporting organizations around the world to ban the two nations from competing, urging global sports federations to “protect the integrity of competitions for the safety of all the participants” by excluding athletes and officials from the two nations.Belarus is an ally to Russia and allowed Russian troops to pour over its southern border into Ukraine as the invasion began last week.Russia had already been banned from international sports competitions through the end of this year for doping.

Those sanctions kept them from competing as a country in the past three Olympics, including the recent Beijing Winter Olympics where its figure skating athletes were at the center of another drug scandal.The International Skating Union council said in its statement today that “with immediate effect and until further notice, no Skaters belonging to the ISU Members in Russia (Russian Skating Union and the Figure Skating Federation of Russia) and Belarus (Skating Union of Belarus) shall be invited or allowed to participate in International ice skating Competitions including ISU Championships and other ISU Events.

The same applies to Officials listed in the respective ISU Communications and/or Regulations under Russia and Belarus.”The ban means Russian and Belarussian skaters will not be able to