Russian, Belarusian athletes to participate at Paris Olympics as neutrals: IOC

BERLIN: Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris 2024 Olympics can take part as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems at the event next year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Friday (Dec 8).

The athletes had initially been banned from competing internationally following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.

In March, however, the IOC issued a first set of recommendations for international sports federations to allow Russian and Belarusian competitors to return and they have since done so in most events.

"The Executive Board (EB) of the IOC has decided that Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) who have qualified through the existing qualification systems of the International Federations (IFs) on the field of play will be declared eligible to compete at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in accordance with the conditions outlined below," the Olympic body said in a statement.

"Individual Neutral Athletes are athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport."

The neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus will only compete in individual sports and no teams for the two countries will be allowed to participate in Paris.

The IOC, which in October suspended the Russian Olympic Committee for recognising regional organisations from four territories annexed from Ukraine, also said athletes who actively support the war in Ukraine would not be eligible.

It also said no Russian or Belarusian government or state official would be invited to or accredited for Paris 2024.

But athletes, it added, should not be punished for the actions of their governments.

"The protection of the rights of individual athletes to participate in competitions despite the suspension of their National Olympic Committee is a