Will Russia and Belarus be part of the 2024 Olympic Games?

It's official, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has barred been Russia and Belarus to participate in the Paris 2024 Games. However, their athletes are not quite out of the game, yet.

“There are no plans for a Russian or Belarusian delegation or the flags of these countries at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the IOC stated, per AP.

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The Olympic Committee have expressed their intention to allow Russian and Belorussian athletes to participate with neutral flags and as individual athletes.

They cite the example of athletes from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, who were allowed to compete in Barcelona 1992 as independents despite UN sanctions.

According to Reuters, there are quite a few limitations for Russian athletes to participate. For example, they must have not been actively supporting the war on Ukraine.

They also can't be involved in any institution related to the military or national security.

Reuters highlights that it is expected that 36 Russian and 22 Belarusian athletes will participate in the 2024 Olympics. In comparison, Russia had 330 athletes in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Russian athletes have not been allowed to participate under the country’s name in the Olympic Games since Rio 2016 due to doping-related controversies.

Instead, they compete under the flag and logo of the Russian Olympic Committee, with a piece by Tchaikovsky in lieu of the country’s national anthem.

However, the plan proposed by the IOC would see Russian athletes wearing no national symbols, such as flags or anthems.

The same strategy has been applied for Russians participating in international tennis tournaments, however, this has not prevented provocative shirts and flags during events such as the Australian Open.

The United States originally stated that it supports the neutral flag proposal, stressing that no national symbol should be used by participating athletes.

On the other hand, Ana Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, has described the alternative as “indecent”, arguing that “no flag is neutral”.

Zelensky rejected the idea, stating that “one cannot try to be neutral when the foundations of peaceful life are being destroyed and universal human values are being ignored”.

“We can only say one thing: a white or any neutral flag is impossible for Russian athletes, as all their flags are stained in blood,” added the Ukrainian President.

A press release signed by 34 countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden, and released in February 2023 argues the connection between sports and politics in the former Soviet countries is very hard to set apart.

“In Russia and Belarus sport and politics are closely intertwined. We have strong concerns on how feasible it is for Russian and Belarusian Olympic athletes to compete as ‘neutrals’”, reads the text, published on the official British government website.

Ukrainian football legend Andriy Shevchenko argued that allowing Russians to participate would send the message that the actions of their government have been forgiven.

“There’s no politics in sport. But this war is more than sports,” Shevchenko highlighted on his Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Russian tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov said in a DW interview that while everyone wants the nightmare of war to be over, this isn’t the fault of the athletes that, for the most part, can’t freely speak up.

DW writes that the IOC and its President, Thomas Bach, have referred to a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2022, and approved by Russia and Ukraine.

“Major international sporting events should be organized in a spirit of peace, mutual understanding, and international cooperation, friendship, and tolerance, and without discrimination of any kind,” states the UN resolution.