Detroit Red Wings' two-time Stanley Cup Champion Vladimir Tarasenko banned from Olympics
Photo credit: Detroit News
In breaking news, the Detroit Red Wings' two-time Stanley Cup Champion Vladimir Tarasenko was officially banned from participating in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
In an official statement, the International Olympic Committee has confirmed the status of Vladimir Tarasenko and all Russian athletes for the upcoming Olympic Games.
Following the success of the Four Nations Face-Off, fans are eager to once again see their favorite players compete on the international stage.
In recent weeks, the World Championship has brought back similar feelings, but the Olympic Games promise a whole new level of competition.
Indeed, with NHL athletes set to make their long-awaited return to the Olympics after more than a 10-year absence, many hockey fans are counting down the days until the 2026 Games in Italy.
However, Vladimir Tarasenko, just like Alex Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, Ivan Demidov, Matvei Michkov, and Andrei Vasilevskiy, won't be able to participate.
In a new development, the Olympic Committee has announced that Russian athletes will be excluded from the Games as part of sanctions imposed in 2023:
TSN confirmed the news:
Read the press release here:
"The IOC Executive Board recommendation from March 2023 regarding teams of athletes holding a Russian passport remains in place. It is based on the fact that, by definition, a group of Individual Neutral Athletes cannot be considered a team. We take note that the IIHF has confirmed it will follow this recommendation."
This means that the Detroit Red Wings veteran Vladimir Tarasenko, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, won't compete against the best players in the world.
Russia won gold at the 2018 Games and silver in Beijing in 2022, both editions marked by the absence of NHL players.
In recent years, several athletes from Russia and Belarus have been allowed to compete at the Olympics, but had to do so as neutral athletes: no national anthems or flags were presented.
So far, four Russian figure skaters have been approved to take part in qualification rounds for the 2026 Games, which will go down in Italy between February 6th and 22nd.
| POLL | ||
MAI 27 | 86 ANSWERS Detroit Red Wings' two-time Stanley Cup Champion Vladimir Tarasenko banned from Olympics Would you have liked to see Vladimir Tarasenko take part in the Olympic Games? | ||
| Yes | 24 | 27.9 % |
| No | 62 | 72.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
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