Athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be able to participate in the opening ceremony of Paris 2024

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed that athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be able to participate in the opening parade at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the same measure that had already been defined by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC)

The IOC explained that neutral athletes “will not participate in the parade of delegations (teams) during the Opening Ceremony, since they are individual athletes”, and assured that “they will be given the opportunity to experience the event”.

In addition, the IOC stated that “this is the same scenario that was used for independent Olympic participants in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games (from the former Yugoslavia)” and announced that “the decision on the participation of the AINs in the Closing Ceremony will be taken at a later stage, taking into consideration that it is not teams that enter the Closing Ceremony, but all the athletes together”.

The body chaired by Thomas Bach enabled the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes in Paris 2024, but under the condition of neutrality and on an individual basis.

In the same statement, the International Olympic Committee anticipated that the medals won by the athletes will not be reflected in the medal table and ratified the strict conditions that athletes from Russia and Belarus must meet in order to be in the next Olympic Games, which will be held from July 26 to August 11.

The IOC reiterated that teams will not be allowed to participate, nor can the athletes or staff they have supported who actively support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 be elected.

Meanwhile, athletes and support personnel who are hired by the Russian or Belarusian army or national security agencies cannot be present at Paris 2024.

The panel responsible for supervising that athletes from Russia and Belarus meet the conditions established to be in the Olympic Games will consist of Nicole Hoevertsz (vice-president of the IOC), Pau Gasol (representative of the IOC Ethics Committee) and Seung Min Ryu (representative of the IOC Athletes’ Commission).

The IOC confirmed that, so far, 12 Russians and seven Belarusians have qualified to be in Paris 2024 as neutral and anticipated: “Experts currently predict that, in the most likely scenario, 36 AIN with a Russian passport and 22 AIN with a Belarusian passport will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The maximum number, which will hardly be reached, would be 54 and 28 respectively.”