Olympic president invokes John Lennon's memory as Paris marks 1-year countdown to war-clouded Games

The president of the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday formally invited the world's nations but not Russia or its military ally Belarus to gather in one year in Paris for the Olympics — launching the final countdown to the 2024 Games against the backdrop of war in Ukraine.

IOC president Thomas Bach accompanied his invite with a plea for togetherness and invoked the memory of John Lennon as he argued that "our fragile world, with conflicts, divisions and wars rising," needs the Olympics' "unifying power more than ever."

"The Olympic Games must always build bridges. The Olympic Games must never erect walls. Imagine. You may say we are dreamers. We are not the only ones," Bach said, borrowing from Lennon's famous peace anthem, "Imagine."

Bach has heaped praise on Paris' preparations this week as the French capital marked the year-to-go milestone to the opening ceremony on July 26, 2024.

"Paris is maybe at this stage the best-prepared city ever," Bach said.

Without the usual worries about whether Olympic venues will be ready, the biggest unknown this time is whether Bach and the IOC will let athletes from Russia and Belarus compete.

In Paris this week, the IOC president has not deviated from his line that there may be a pathway for some of them to compete as "neutral athletes," without their countries' flags, names or colors, but that the final decision will come later.

"There's still one year to go," Bach said Wednesday. "We have not taken any decision about the participation of individual neutral athletes yet."

The sending out of formal invites for national Olympic committees and their best athletes to take part in the July 26 to Aug. 11 Olympics is an IOC tradition to mark the year-to-go milestone of both