IOC admits neutral athletes from Russia to 2024 Olympics in Paris

MOSCOW. Dec 8 (Interfax) - The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee has decided to admit individual athletes from Russia to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the IOC said in a statement on its website on Friday.

"The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided that Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) who have qualified through the existing qualification systems of the International Federations (IFs) on the field of play will be declared eligible to compete at the Olympic Games Paris 2024," it said.

It specified that Individual Neutral Athletes are athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport.

There are only 11 Individual Neutral Athletes, including eight with a Russian passport and three with a Belarusian passport, among the 4,600 athletes around the world who have qualified to compete in the 2024 Olympics, it said.

The strict eligibility conditions that Individual Neutral Athletes and support personnel must comply with to be admitted to the Olympics in Paris are the same conditions under which they have qualified, it said. In particular, they must not be contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies.

In its statement on March 28, 2023, the IOC recommended that international sports federations admit certain Russian and Belarusian athletes to competitions as neutral athletes, as long as they did not support the special military operation and were not related to sports societies affiliated with national defense and security agencies.