A Belarusian who was blocked from representing her country at the Winter Olympics is back competing under a new flag
A skier forced to flee her country over her family’s political stance made history by competing for a refugee team. Belarusian biathlete Darya Dolidovich was barred by her own country from competing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing four years ago before finding refuge in Poland.
Dolidovich, then just 17, and her family feared persecution after her father, Sergei, took part in protests against the re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko two years earlier. Opponents of Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, claimed the election was rigged.
Sergei said at the time: “Darya has been stripped of her right to take part in competitions. I don’t see the possibility of her continuing her career in Belarus.
“We could be accused of staging a demonstration and shouting [opposition] slogans, then just be sent to prison. Three months ago, I couldn’t have imagined, even in a nightmare, that I would end up leaving my country.”
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Having settled in Poland, Darya has been able to resume her promising career in biathlon, a sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Now 21, she recently became the first biathlete in history to compete for the Biathlon Refugee Team (BRT), established in 2024 to support athletes who cannot compete for their home countries due to war or fear of political persecution.
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She made her debut for the team at a Biathlon World Cup round in Oberhof, Germany last month. In a large field, Darya finished 68th in the women’s 7.5km sprint event, shooting impressively by missing just two of the 10 targets.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, restrictions have been placed on Russian and Belarusian athletes. They have been able to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in northern Italy but only under strict conditions as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN).
Competitors cannot compete under the Russian or Belarusian flags, while their national anthems are not played. Instead, they use a teal flag with a circular AIN emblem and a specially commissioned instrumental anthem.
To be cleared by the IOC, athletes must prove they have not publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine and have no affiliations with the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies.
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Participation is limited to individual events. This means Russian and Belarusian teams are completely barred from team sports like ice hockey and curling.
For the 2026 Winter Games, only 20 athletes (13 Russians and seven Belarusians) met the qualification and neutrality standards to compete across sports like figure skating and freestyle skiing.
Unfortunately for Dolidovich, she wasn’t one of those. But given her relative youth, she’ll no doubt hope to one day realise her Olympics dream – potentially at the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.
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