Paris Olympics 2024: How will Russian and Belarusian athletes compete? AIN rules and timeline of events explained

With the Paris Olympics commencing next month, there is speculation and doubt regarding the number of Russian and Belarusian athletes who will participate in the competition.

This comes post the news of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implementing strict rules for Russian and Belarusian athletes who wish to participate in the competition this summer.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the IOC initially recommended a complete ban on athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus.

However, the Committee later allowed them to qualify for the event in Paris. In January 2023, the IOC announced that qualified athletes could compete as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), similar to how tennis players from Russia and Belarus participate in world events.

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On October 2023, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) was completely suspended by the IOC as it absorbed Ukrainian regional sports organizations in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. These regions originally came under the control of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee.

The ban resulted in debates regarding participation, but the IOC Executive Board ruled that it would be unfair to punish athletes based on their national identity alone, thereby allowing them participation under strict rules and guidelines.

Under the new guidelines, both these countries will be banned from participating in team events.

AIN athletes are allowed to participate under the guarantee that no flag, anthem, colours or any other identifications whatsoever of Russia or Belarus will be displayed from their side. They will be excluded from the parade of delegations during the opening ceremony nor will their medals be displayed in the medal table of nations. There will also be an anthem without lyrics during the medal ceremonies for AIN athletes.

The IOC has stated that athletes who actively support the war or who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies will not be eligible to enter or participate in the event.  The same guidelines apply to the support staff as well.

As of July 13, 15 Russian AINs and 16 Belarusian AINs have accepted IOC’s invitation to participate in the event in July.