IOC will allow some athletes from Russia, Belarus to participate in Paris Olympics
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Friday that some athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics under a neutral status.
The decision comes after the committee started to reintegrate individual athletes from the two countries amid the war on Ukraine.
Blocks will remain on athletes and support personnel “contracted” to Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies from competing in or entering the games, the committee said in its release.
“Individual Neutral Athletes are athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport,” the release explains.
“Only a very limited number of athletes will qualify through the existing qualification systems,” the IOC statement added.
There are 4,600 athletes from around the world who have qualified for the Paris games so far, according to the IOC. But, only 11 of them are considered neutral. Among the list are eight Russians and 3 Belarusians.
In comparison, more than 60 Ukrainian athletes have qualified.
Those granted neutral status will have to compete without their respective country’s flag, anthem or colors. They will be issued uniforms that are light blue, according to the Associated Press.
In July, the IOC said Russia and Belarus would not receive formal invitations to the Paris games next year. The committee’s Ethics Commission had previously issued recommendations for international sports competitions in the spring, possibly opening the door to those with passports from the two countries to not be barred from competing as neutral athletes.
The commission also proposed that people actively supporting the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia be prevented from entering international competitions. The IOC said the recommendations would not prohibit neutral athletes from competing.
“The IOC will take this decision at the appropriate time, at its full discretion, and without being bound by the results of previous Olympic qualification competitions,” the committee said at the time.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously stated his displeasure with the IOC’s recommendation that Russians be able to compete neutrally.
“There is no such thing as neutrality when a war like this is going on,” Zelensky said in a speech in January. “And we know how often tyrannies try to use sports for their ideological interests. It is obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood.”
Russia sent 335 athletes to the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, winning 20 golds medals, AP reported.
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