(Reuters) – The Paris 2024 Olympics will welcome neutral Russian and Belarusian athletes at the event next year following the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the chief of the organising committee told Reuters on Tuesday.
Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris Games can take part as individual neutral athletes at the July 26-Aug. 11 event without flags, emblems or anthems, the IOC said on Friday.
“As the organising committee, we welcome and respect this decision,” the head of Paris 2024 Tony Estanguet said.
“We will welcome these athletes … to participate within the rules that have been indicated, meaning no flags, no hymns, no officials, no team sports. So these delegations will be very small but will be welcomed by Paris 2024.”
The neutral athletes will compete only in individual sports, while no Russian or Belarusian government or state official would be invited to or accredited for Paris 2024, the IOC said.
Russians and Belarusians had initially been banned from competing internationally following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, for which Belarus has been used as a staging ground.
In March, however, the IOC issued a first set of recommendations for international sports federations to allow Russian and Belarusian competitors to return and they have since done so in most events.
Athletes who actively support the war in Ukraine are not eligible, nor are those contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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