The International Olympic Committee withdrew its general recommendation restricting Belarusian participation in international sport, opening a path for the country to appear under its own flag at the 2028 Los Angeles Games while leaving implementation to individual federations.

The IOC executive board said it no longer recommended limits on Belarusian athletes, including teams. It argued that competitors should not be excluded solely because of their government's role in war or conflict, and noted that Belarus's national Olympic committee remained in good standing under the Olympic Charter.

Belarusian athletes had competed in reduced numbers as Individual Neutral Athletes at the Paris 2024 Summer Games and the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games. That arrangement removed national colours and limited participation to competitors meeting neutrality conditions. The IOC said those appearances had produced no reported incidents on or away from competition sites.

The policy change arrived before qualification began for the Los Angeles Olympics and the 2028 Winter Youth Olympic Games. Belarus's Olympic committee welcomed the decision and urged international federations to remove their own restrictions. Sports including swimming and judo had already eased some limits.

World Athletics, however, said its ban on Belarusian and Russian athletes, officials and support personnel would stay. The federation linked any review to tangible progress toward peace negotiations after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Its stance means Belarusian track-and-field competitors would not automatically benefit from the IOC's recommendation.

Ukraine's national Olympic committee condemned the change, arguing that Belarus continued to support Russian military operations and provide territory for logistics and attacks. It warned that restoring national representation without accountability created a damaging precedent. Those objections underscored that the dispute concerned both athletes' individual rights and whether national symbols confer legitimacy on state conduct.

Russia remained under a different framework. Its Olympic committee had been suspended since 2023 after incorporating sports organisations from four occupied Ukrainian regions. Russian competitors could still take part only individually as neutrals, provided they had not actively supported the war. The IOC also cited renewed concerns about Russia's anti-doping system and said its legal review of the Russian committee was continuing.

The decision therefore did not impose a uniform return across every sport, nor did it extend equivalent treatment to Russia. It changed the IOC's central recommendation for Belarus, but federations retained authority over their competitions. The immediate rejection by World Athletics showed that Belarusian participation at LA 2028 would still depend on the rules and qualification pathways of each governing body.

At Paris 2024, 17 Belarusian competitors took part as neutrals; seven did so at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.