Russian athletes eligible to compete in neutral colours at Paris Olympics

Some Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the IOC said Friday, in a decision that removed the option of a blanket ban due to the invasion of Ukraine.

The International Olympic Committee decision confirmed moves it started one year ago to reintegrate Russia and its military ally Belarus into global sports, and nine months after it urged sports governing bodies to look at ways to let individual athletes compete.

Though the IOC's official position was expected, the timing surprised some Olympic watchers after reports last week in Paris suggested the long-promised decision would come in March.

It is still up to each sport's governing body, which run their own Olympic competitions, to assess and enforce neutral status for individual athletes who have not actively supported the war and are not contracted to military or state security agencies.

Russia sent 335 athletes to the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 — winning 20 golds among 71 total medals — but only dozens are likely to compete in Paris as individuals. Russia remains banned from team sports.

"Only a very limited number of athletes will qualify through the existing qualification systems of the [governing bodies]," the IOC said in a statement

Those who are given neutral status must compete without their national identity of flag, anthem or colours. Light blue uniforms have been mandated by the International Gymnastics Federation.

Russian government and sports officials have often insisted that any restrictions on their athletes are politicized and unacceptable.

Athletes and officials from Ukraine, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have repeatedly urged the IOC to expel Russia and Belarus entirely from the Olympics because of the war Russia started. Zelenskyy said in January it was "obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood."

European allies of Ukraine have tried to exert pressure on Olympic and sports officials, and Sweden's sports minister said the IOC decision was "upsetting and very regrettable."

"Neutral flag is an illusion and this contributes to normalizing the Russian war of aggression!" sports minister Jakob Forssmed wrote on social media.

The toughest stance on Russian athletes has been taken by World Athletics, which has excluded them from international competition since the invasion started in February 2022.

The IOC and its President Thomas Bach also urged excluding Russia from sports when the war started days after the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Games, then eased their position through last year as qualifying events for Paris approached.

Paris is the fifth straight Olympics where Russia and its athletes have faced calls to be banned since the steroid-tainted 2014 Sochi Winter Games that was Bach's first as IOC president. In Paris, Russian athletes will compete as Individual Neutral Athletes — using the French acronym AIN — at the fourth straight games where the simple team name "Russia" was not allowed.