6 months from Olympics, Russians qualifying in some sports and absent in others

With just six months to go until the Paris Olympics, it's still not clear if Russians will be competing and, if so, how many.

Russians are qualifying for Olympic spots as "neutral athletes" in combat events such as judo and wrestling, but not in some of the Games' highest-profile events like track and field, swimming and gymnastics.

Russia is unhappy its competitors will compete without the national flag or anthem, and President Vladimir Putin said last month Russia was yet to decide whether to send athletes to the Paris Games, which start on July 26.

If Russians compete in Paris, there will be tension, just like at the world fencing championships, an Olympic qualifier, when Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan refused to shake hands after beating Russian "neutral" Anna Smirnova.

Smirnova staged a sitdown protest until the Ukrainian was disqualified, but the International Olympic Committee intervened and granted Kharlan a "unique exception" to compete at the Olympics.

The IOC last year set up an "Individual Neutral Athlete" program for athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus. They both were suspended from most Olympic sports a year earlier over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The process is run by the sports federations which organize their own qualifying competitions. The IOC wants them to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes who are employed by the military or security services or who posted on social media supporting the war. The multitude of different rules across the Games' 32 sports mean exact numbers of those with "neutral" status are hard to verify.

The IOC says six Russians and five Belarusians have already qualified for Paris. There are many more qualifying events to come.

The IOC will appoint