Olympics 2024: Russian, Belarusian athletes to participate as neutrals

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed that Russian and Belarusian athletes who qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics will participate as neutrals.

The conditions of their inclusion include competing without the flags, emblems, or anthems of their country.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the authorities banned athletes from those nations.

Ukraine has threatened to boycott the games if the ban is not upheld.

The decision comes after Olympic sports federations asked the IOC to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals in Paris earlier this week.

“The executive board of the IOC has decided that individual neutral athletes (AINs) who have qualified through the existing qualification systems of the International Federations on the field of play will be declared eligible to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 in accordance with the conditions outlined,” the Olympic body said on Friday.