IOC allows Russian athletes to take part in 2024 Olympics

Russian and Belarusian athletes who qualify will be able to participate in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Friday.

The athletes will only be allowed to participate in the event as neutrals. They cannot display any flags, emblems or anthems during their participation. 

"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," the Olympic body said in a statement.

Strict eligibility conditions to take part in Paris 2024

The IOC initially banned Russia — and its ally Belarus — from international sports events after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Over the past year, a number of Olympic sports have eased restrictions, allowing Russians and Belarusians to return as neutral athletes in individual events and under strict conditions.

Athletes from the two countries will now be allowed to compete in individual sporting events in Paris 2024, but no teams will be allowed.

"Athletes who actively support the war" as well as "athletes who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies" will be prohibited from competing at the Olympics, the IOC said.

"Only a very limited number of athletes will qualify through the existing qualification systems of the (governing bodies)," the IOC said.

So far, eight Russians and three Belarusians have qualified for the Olympics in Paris. More than 60 Ukrainians are among the approximately 4,600 athletes already eligible to take part.

Russia, Ukraine both criticize IOC decision — for different reasons

Russia's Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin called the conditions "discriminatory."

"They are damaging the Olympic Games themselves, and not Russian sports. The approach is absolutely unacceptable," he said. 

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned what he said was a "shameful" IOC decision.

"The IOC essentially gave Russia the green light to weaponize the Olympics. Because the Kremlin will use every Russian and Belarusian athlete as a weapon in its propaganda warfare," Kubla wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

IOC: Want to avoid setting a precedent

Athletes and officials from Ukraine, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have repeatedly urged the IOC to expel Russia and Belarus from the Olympics entirely.

Earlier this year, Thomas Bach, the IOC president, said he understood the call but added it contradicted the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the Olympic Charter.

"This puts us in a dilemma. If we set a precedent, it will destroy Olympic sport. We're talking about international competitions, which can then become a political pawn," Bach said.

The IOC did, however, suspend the Russian Olympic Committee after it "unilaterally" decided to recognize regional sports organizations in four annexed Ukrainian territories as members in October. 

The four regional organizations, namely in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, represent partially occupied and illegally annexed Ukrainian regions which, according to the IOC, fall "under the authority of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine."

The step, taken by the ROC on October 5, therefore, "constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity" of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

The Russian Olympic Committee has appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

lo/sms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)