IOC recommends unrestricted access for Russian, Belarusian athletes to int'l youth competitions

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IOC recommends unrestricted access for Russian, Belarusian athletes to int'l youth competitions

2025-12-12 13:41 Last Updated At：14:49

The 14th Olympic Summit announced Thursday to support the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Executive Board (EB) that youth athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport should no longer be restricted in entering international youth competitions, in both individual and team sports.

The IOC EB meetings, held from Tuesday to Wednesday in Lausanne, Switzerland, recommended to lift restrictions on youth athletes from the two countries in international youth events.

"The Summit supported the IOC EB's recommendation that youth athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport should no longer be restricted in their access to international youth competitions, in both individual and team sports," announced the IOC in a statement.

The IOC explained the definition of youth competitions and the application of these recommendations for this purpose depends on the regulations of each International Federation (IF).

According to the statement, the standard protocols of the International Federation (IF) or the International Sports Event Organizer regarding flags, anthems, uniforms and other elements should apply.

The above principles should also apply to the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, and are recommended for adoption by all IFs and international sports event organizers for their own youth events.

The 14th Olympic Summit at Olympic House is a high-level annual meeting of the Olympic Movement, where representatives exchange views on major current issues and provide recommendations to the IOC for its decision-making.

This year's summit agenda included topics such as the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and anti-doping efforts.

The meeting was chaired by IOC President Kirsty Coventry. Gao Zhidan, president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and Gene Sykes, chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, were present as representatives of their respective National Olympic Committees.

Additionally, presidents of IFs, including Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, were invited to participate in the summit.

China to use structural monetary policy tools to help resources flow to key areas: experts

China is to use structural monetary policy tools such as the rate cuts to help financial resources flow to key areas, experts said on Thursday following the conclusion of the annual Central Economic Work Conference where Chinese leaders decided priorities for the economic work in 2026.

At this year's Central Economic Work Conference, it was mentioned for the first time that flexible and efficient use of various policy tools, such as reserve requirement ratios (RRR) cuts and interest rate reductions should be employed to maintain ample liquidity.

Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of Merchants Union Consumer Finance Company, said the role of structural monetary policy tools will be leveraged for the development of sci-tech and green industries.

"It is expected that in 2026, deposit rates and policy rates will further decline, and the loan prime rate (LPR) is anticipated to remain stable with a slight downward trend. More emphasis will be placed on leveraging the role of structural monetary policy tools to guide financial resources toward scientific and technological innovation, green development, and boosting consumption," he said.

"Moreover, monetary policy will focus on balancing and managing the relationships between short-term and long-term goals, ensuring growth and preventing risks, and internal and external factors," said Dong.

Zhang Wenlang, a chief macro analyst at China International Capital Corporation Limited, said the employment of various structural monetary policy tools will help guarantee financial support for the country's high quality development.

"What monetary policy emphasizes is the 'flexible and efficient use of various policy tools, such as RRR cuts and interest rate reductions'. That means, in addition to traditional RRR and interest rate cuts, monetary policy will employ various structural tools. Moreover, to meet the needs of economic development, the existing structural toolkit can be further improved and enriched to provide more precise and effective support for high-quality development," said Zhang.