- Up to 40 Russian athletes as neutrals
- IOC sanctions limit team sports participation
- Mayor opposes, IOC faces controversy
International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president John Coates estimates that up to forty Russian athletes may compete as neutrals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Coates told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, “The issue is how many [Russian athletes] will be there as well, because they won’t be participating in any team sports because they can’t compete as effectively as Russia.
“Those who are adequately equipped to leave the Russian military clubs will not be attending,” the 73-year-old further stated. “I do not know, but it is possible that some athletes who are not competing for Russia would choose not to go.”
Coates, a former president of Australia’s Olympic Committee, concluded: “While I cannot confirm this, I believe I read that [the Russian contingent] could consist of no more than forty individuals.”
As a result of sanctions imposed in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which Belarus supported as a staging area, the IOC strictly regulates the participation of only a limited number of Belarusian and Russian athletes in the Paris Olympics.
The decision to permit the neutral athletes to participate in December’s competition was deemed “shameful” by Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, and continues to be a contentious issue. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, stated last week that she opposed the participation of Russian athletes in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
“I would prefer that they not attend,” Hidalgo explained to Reuters. “It will be extremely, extremely difficult to see these athletes, even under the neutral flag, given Putin’s preoccupation with Russians,” the source said.
This summer, neutral athletes will only participate in individual sports without flags, insignia, or national anthems. Participation is not open to athletes contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or actively supporting the Ukraine conflict.
The restrictions were deemed “illegitimate, unfair, and unacceptable” by Moscow, which described the invasion as a “special military operation.” However, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, the Russian Olympic chief, has affirmed that his country’s athletes will not boycott the Games.
As a result of doping sanctions that barred them from competing under the Russian flag, 335 athletes representing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) participated in the 2021 Tokyo Summer Games and won 71 medals. One hundred-one athletes from Belarus won seven medals.
The IOC subsequently suspended the ROC for recognising regional Olympic councils in Ukraine-annexed territories; the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) upheld this decision last month.
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Certain sports, including equestrianism, prohibit the participation of athletes from both countries. Since early 2022, World Athletics has implemented a comprehensive moratorium on athletes from Russia and Belarus.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) and World Swimming are among the organisations that will permit Russians and Belarusians to compete despite the IOC’s restrictions. Daniil Medvedev, a tennis prodigy from Russia, expressed his eagerness to compete in Paris earlier this month and his commitment to following the regulations.
The Olympics in Paris occur between July 26 and August 11. At the time of the December decision regarding neutral athletes, only eight of the 4,600 qualified athletes were Russian, and three held Belarusian passports. Over sixty Ukrainian athletes had qualified for the Games at that time.
