Russian, Belarusian athletes to be excluded from Olympics opening ceremony, IOC announces

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As tensions between Russian and Belarusian athletes and the International Olympic Committee continue to rise ahead of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, the IOC announced Tuesday that neutral athletes with passports from those countries will not be able to participate in the Opening Ceremony parade. 

The IOC’s Executive Board agreed on a number of measures involving Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) ahead of the Olympics, which includes "strict eligibility conditions" for those athletes competing as individuals. 

Olympic logo in Paris ahead of the 2024 Summer games.  (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)

The board established Tuesday that "AINs will not participate in the parade of delegations (teams) during the Opening Ceremony, since they are individual athletes," but added that they will be able to "experience the event" which is slated for July 26. 

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Guidelines for the closing ceremony were not yet established. 

The board also established that Russian and Belarusian athletes competing as neutrals will be represented by a specific flag with their designation and an anthem with no lyrics, which was "provided solely for this purpose." 

Any medals won by neutral athletes will also not be counted as a collective group in the overall medals table.

Reporters work outside the headquarters of the Paris Olympic organizers, Tuesday, June 20, 2023 in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

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Russia and Belarus are barred from team sports at the Olympics because of the war in Ukraine and must