WAR MEANS NO TEAM: RUSSIA OUT OF OLYMPIC HOCKEY

Russia will not take part in the men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

This was con­firmed by Luc Tardif, Pres­i­dent of the Inter­na­tion­al Ice Hock­ey Fed­er­a­tion (IIHF), in an inter­view with SVT Sport.

At the request of the Inter­na­tion­al Olympic Com­mit­tee (IOC), the IIHF designed the tour­na­ment sched­ule – and the Russ­ian team is not includ­ed. Accord­ing to Tardif, the Russ­ian Olympic Com­mit­tee has been offi­cial­ly informed.

“We made it clear that the Russ­ian Olympic Com­mit­tee had to noti­fy the IOC – and they did,” said Tardif. “Now we expect the IOC to make this pub­lic.”

Mean­while, the Russ­ian Ice Hock­ey Fed­er­a­tion denies receiv­ing any such com­mu­ni­ca­tion, claim­ing the issue will be decid­ed “lat­er.” But the truth is obvi­ous: Rus­sia is out.

Rus­sia and Belarus were sus­pend­ed from all inter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tions in 2022 fol­low­ing the full-scale inva­sion of Ukraine. In Feb­ru­ary 2024, the IIHF extend­ed the sus­pen­sion through the ²⁰²⁴⁄₂₅ sea­son. There will be no return to inter­na­tion­al play until the war ends.

At the upcom­ing Sum­mer Olympics in Paris, Russ­ian ath­letes are also barred from team events and may only com­pete as neu­trals in indi­vid­ual sports.

This is not pol­i­tics: it is a mat­ter of prin­ci­ple. War and sport can­not coex­ist. As long as mis­siles rain down on Ukrain­ian cities, Russ­ian flags and ath­letes have no place on Olympic ice.