The athletes had initially been banned from competing internationally following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) has given the inexperienced mild to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes within the video games subsequent yr as neutrals.
Russian and Belarusian athletes who qualify of their sport for the Paris 2024 Olympics will have the ability to participate with out flags, emblems or anthems, outdoors of staff occasions and so long as they don’t actively help the battle in Ukraine, the IOC stated on Friday.
The athletes had initially been banned from competing internationally following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however have since been step by step allowed again as impartial athletes in most sport.
The IOC stated eight Russians and three Belarusians are amongst 4,600 athletes worldwide who’ve to this point certified for the Summer time Video games, which open in July.
They are going to solely be allowed to compete in particular person sports activities and no groups for the 2 nations will likely be allowed to take part in Paris.
Greater than 60 Ukrainian athletes have certified for subsequent yr’s Paris Olympics. A complete of about 11,000 athletes will participate within the video games subsequent yr.
Athletes and officers from Ukraine, together with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have repeatedly urged the IOC to exclude Russia and Belarus fully.
Nevertheless, representatives of worldwide sports activities federations and nationwide Olympic committees had known as for Russian and Belarusian athletes to be admitted below a impartial flag “as quickly as attainable”.
Ukraine’s Sport Minister Matviy Bidnyi advised the AFP information company prematurely of the choice on Thursday that Kyiv was involved the transfer appeared that the IOC “doesn’t wish to reveal the mandatory management within the matter of Olympic equity and justice”.
“As aptly acknowledged by President Volodymyr Zelensky: ‘Clearly, any impartial flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood,’” stated Bidnyi.
“When there’s a battle and one nation with its passports is destroying one other nation, then ‘neutrality’ turns into irresponsibility,” he stated, including that giving up their Russian passport was “the one attainable manner immediately for an athlete to show Olympic excellence is his first precedence”.
Earlier this yr, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the IOC of utilizing the video games as a type of “ethnic discrimination”.
