The decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was expected. It fell this Friday: Russian and Belarusian athletes are authorized to participate under a neutral banner in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris (July 26 – August 11), excluding team events and as long as they have not actively supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Only 11 “neutral individual athletes” have so far qualified for the competition, eight Russians and three Belarusians, the IOC said in a press release, compared to around sixty Ukrainian athletes.
The question is crucial since the fear of seeing a Ukrainian delegation absent or very weakened in Paris has long worried the Olympic body, and would have made the presence of Russian athletes even more politically delicate, even without an anthem or flag.
After having banned Russians and Belarusians from world sport at the end of February 2022, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IOC therefore reasoned in two stages to organize their return, explaining on numerous occasions that athletes should not “ pay” for the actions of their government.
The IOC took its time
Last March, the Olympic organization first recommended that international federations reinstate the Russians and Belarusians under a neutral banner in their competitions, while postponing “to an appropriate time” its decision on the 2024 Paris Olympics as well as on the Olympic Games. winter 2026 Milan-Cortina.
The Olympic body took the time to evaluate the progress of the competitions, considered generally satisfactory, and to see the position of the Ukrainian government evolve, which first required its athletes to boycott any event involving Russians before soften its position this summer.
Athletics still hostile to the reintegration of Russians
Furthermore, if the international federations followed this recommendation in a dispersed manner – athletics in particular still refuses to reinstate the Russians – the 12th Olympic Summit organized on Tuesday in Lausanne resulted in a clear signal from the sporting world.
The representatives of the international federations, the 206 national Olympic committees and the athletes all called for a “rapid” decision, to allow the presence in Paris of the small number of Russian and Belarusian athletes who were able to overcome the qualification obstacle.