The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Нацыянальны алімпійскі камітэт Рэспублікі Беларусь, Russian: Национальный олимпийский комитет Республики Беларусь) is one of many national Olympic committees that make up the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Created in 1991, the NOC RB (Belarusian: НОК РБ), was charged with selecting athletes to represent Belarus in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, enforcing anti-doping laws and promoting sporting activity inside Belarus. The current president of the NOC RB is Victor Lukashenko, the son of the current President of Belarus.
The NOC RB was established on March 22, 1991, several months before the dissolution of the USSR. Until that event, Byelorussian SSR's Olympic activity was controlled by the Soviet Olympic Committee, which did not disband until 1992. During that same year, Belarus competed in the 1992 Summer and Winter Olympics as part of the Unified Team made of former Soviet republics (except the Baltic states). Granted temporary membership in 1992, the NOC RB was not granted full membership until the 101st International Olympic Committee Session in the year 1993. Also in 1993, Vladimir Ryzhenkov, who was at the time the Belarus Minister for Sport and Tourism, was elected to the post of President of the NOC RB. Ryzhenkov held the position until his death in 1996, and was replaced in 1997 with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. In Lukashenko's first speech as NOC RB president, he stated there were no other examples of a head of state serving as a NOC Chairman or President at the same time. From 2005 to 2015, George Katulin served as a secretary general of NOC RB.
In December 2020, the International Olympic Committee sanctioned members of the NOC RB, including Alexander Lukashenko, Viktor Lukashenko and Dzmitry Baskau, for political discrimination against Belarusian athletes.[1]
On August 9, 2021, the Belarus Olympic Committee was added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List by the United States Department of the Treasury.[2]
In addition, the presidents of the NOC Alexander and Viktor Lukashenko are under the sanctions of the United States,[3] the European Union,[4] the United Kingdom,[5] Switzerland[6] and Canada,[7] while Dzmitry Baskau, a member of the executive board, is banned from entering Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.[8][9]
On February 26, 2022, in response to the Belarus-assisted Russian invasion of Ukraine and NOC RB's treatment of Belarusian athletes, the IOC temporarily suspended Belarusian athletes and officials from entering international events.[10]
The Belarusian National Federations are the organizations that coordinate all aspects of their individual sports. They are responsible for training, competition and development of their sports. There are currently 36 Olympic Summer and 8 Winter Sport Federations in Belarus.