Winter Olympics: Why aren’t Palestine competing and is Israel banned?

Over 3,500 athletes from 93 countries will compete for glory at this Winter Olympics, with 195 medals across 16 different disciplines up for grabs.

But as at previous Games, global politics threatens to overshadow the sporting action.

While the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which governs the Games, aims to stay as far away from politics as possible, that becomes difficult when even the list of nations competing asks awkward geopolitical questions.

As at previous Winter Olympics, there will be no athletes representing Palestine, while Israel is allowed to field a delegation despite its invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Hostilities were formally paused when a ceasefire came into effect last October, but strikes and killings have continued, and more than 90 per cent of Gaza’s population remains displaced. The Palestinian Football Association has reported that at least 800 athletes and sporting officials have been killed since the war began in October 2023, including more than 100 children.

Palestine has had a National Olympic Committee since 1993, when it was formally recognised by the IOC. That enables it to send delegations to Olympic Games and to organise training for its national athletes and coaches.

But while Palestinian athletes have competed under their flag at every Summer Olympics since 1996, none have ever participated at a Winter Games. A record eight-strong delegation competed in the Paris Games in summer 2024.

The war between Israel and Hamas and the destruction of much of Palestine’s infrastructure, including sporting infrastructure and clubs, have made training as an athlete nigh on impossible, while the country lacks the funding required to support athletes’ development to elite level.

The Winter Olympics has been historically dominated by Nordic countries – Norway has topped the medal table in each of the past three Games – and others with cold climates. The Olympic Movement has made an effort to expand the reach of winter sports to countries beyond that traditional heartland, but Palestine’s warm climate is an additional historic barrier to athletes breaking into the Olympic disciplines.

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has taken the position that the conflict between Israel and Hamas is “not comparable” to that between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia and its ally Belarus were suspended by the IOC in October 2023 as a consequence of Russia’s war on Ukraine, specifically its decision to take over the sporting authorities of several Ukrainian regions it occupied, which the IOC said “violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine”.

That formal suspension cut off the Russian Olympic Committee from all Olympic funding and meant that no Russian or Belarusian athletes could represent their country at the next Olympic Games in Paris. Instead some individuals competed as neutral athletes under a neutral flag, and any medals they won did not count towards the official table.

An IOC spokesperson said before the Paris Games that the Israel-Palestine situation was “not comparable”: “The relevant NOCs did not extend their area of jurisdiction over that of another NOC or outside their own area of jurisdiction. It is beyond our remit to react to any conflict or war situation between countries. This is the pure realm of politics.”

The IOC’s decision was met with anger from the Palestinian NOC, which sent a letter to the IOC prior to the Paris Olympics accusing it of “double standards”.

In September 2025 the IOC confirmed that Israel would not face a similar ban from the Milano Cortina Olympics this February. A statement said: “The IOC deeply believes that differences between nations must be resolved through dialogue, not violence.

“The IOC is concerned by the disruption of competitions across the world, the restriction of access to host countries for athletes, and the boycotting and cancellation of competitions due to political tensions. These actions deprive athletes of their right to compete peacefully and prevent the Olympic Movement from showing the power of sport.”