The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today increased to 39 the number of Russian and Belarusian athletes allowed to compete in Paris 2024 under a neutral flag, including elements of tennis, shooting and rowing.
The second list published by the IOC will allow 22 Russian and 17 Belarusian athletes to take part in the event, which runs from July 26 to August 11, following 25 names linked to cycling, gymnastics, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.
To be invited to the Games, “neutral individual athletes” had to overcome a double check, a qualification hurdle from the international federations and then from the IOC, namely their lack of active support for or involvement in the war in Ukraine, or their lack of active support for or involvement in the war in Ukraine. connection with your country’s military.
Russian tennis players Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev (fifth and sixth places in the ATP rankings, respectively), Daria Kasatkina (14th place) and Lyudmila Samsonova (15th place), as well as Belarusians Aryna Sabalenka (third place) and Victoria Azarenka (16th place) are among the invited guests, and now it remains to be seen whether they will be accepted.
Sabalenka has already said she will not attend, and athletes eligible to participate in the event have declined the IOC invitation, including cyclist Alexander Vlasov.
More updates to the list are expected in the coming weeks as various methods complete their qualifications.
World Athletics maintained a blanket exclusion of competitors from the two countries united in aggression against Ukraine, while other sports such as swimming were reinstated so late that their presence is in question.
The Olympic organization must still update its list once the final qualifying results are published.
Although Russia did not boycott the Olympic Games, gymnasts chose not to go to Paris 2024, but judo and rowing have already expressed their willingness to send athletes.
After the IOC removed athletes from both countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the IOC has in recent months promoted a gradual return under a neutral flag and without any connection to the war, although ruling out the immediate presence of teams in Ukraine . collective modalities.
In March, the IOC assessed the “most likely scenario: 36 Russians and 22 Belarusians” in Paris 2024, with the “maximum” these figures could be increased to 55 Russians and 28 Belarusians.
At Tokyo 2020, 330 athletes competed from Russia and 104 from Belarus.