Current:Home > MyThe IOC confirms Russian athletes can compete at Paris Olympics with approved neutral status-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
The IOC confirms Russian athletes can compete at Paris Olympics with approved neutral status
View Date:2024-12-23 16:20:38
GENEVA (AP) — 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 over the invasion of Ukraine.
The International Olympic Committee’s decision confirms 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.
It is up to each Olympic sport’s governing body 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.
The IOC said Friday eight Russians and three from Belarus are among 4,600 athletes worldwide who have so far qualified for the Summer Games.
RELATED COVERAGE Paris 2024 chief pledges to find solutions to keep Olympic surfing in Tahiti after coral damageRussia sent a team of 335 athletes to the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 but only dozens are likely to compete in Paris. 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 colors. 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.
The toughest stance has been taken by track and field’s World Athletics, which has excluded all Russians 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.
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.
They have said any Olympic medal wins for Russians will be used as propaganda by the state. Russian medal winners are often linked to military sports clubs such as the CSKA which is tied to the army.
The IOC have repeatedly cited the war in Ukraine as being among dozens of ongoing conflicts, and that athletes worldwide and especially from Africa do not want fellow competitors to be punished by the actions of their government.
Last year, Bach pointed to the gravity of Russia breaching the United Nations-backed Olympic Truce that was in place for the Winter Games and Paralympics in China.
A fresh Olympic Truce for Paris was approved this month at the UN in New York, though with only 118 votes in favor from the 193 member states. Russia and Syria abstained.
___
AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
veryGood! (815)
Related
- More human remains from Philadelphia’s 1985 MOVE bombing have been found at a museum
- Caeleb Dressel on his Olympics, USA swimming's future and wanting to touch grass
- Path to Freedom: Florida restaurant owner recalls daring escape by boat from Vietnam
- Amit Elor, 20, wins women's wrestling gold after dominant showing at Paris Olympics
- Jessica Simpson's Husband Eric Johnson Steps Out Ringless Amid Split Speculation
- Can chief heat officers protect the US from extreme heat?
- No drinking and only Christian music during Sunday Gospel Hour at Nashville’s most iconic honky tonk
- Illinois Gov. Pritzker criticizes sheriff for hiring deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey
- Glen Powell Addresses Rumor He’ll Replace Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible Franchise
- Lionel Richie Shares Insight Into Daughter Sofia Richie's Motherhood Journey
Ranking
- US Election Darkens the Door of COP29 as It Opens in Azerbaijan
- USA basketball players juggle motherhood and chasing 8th gold medal at Paris Olympics
- 'The Final Level': Popular GameStop magazine Game Informer ends, abruptly lays off staff
- 2024 Olympics: Snoop Dogg Delivers Golden Performance for Team USA
- Police identify 7-year-old child killed in North Carolina weekend shooting
- The Daily Money: Recovering from Wall Street's manic Monday
- All the 2024 Olympic Controversies Shadowing the Competition in Paris
- 'Halloween' star Charles Cyphers dies at 85
Recommendation
-
Just Eat Takeaway sells Grubhub for $650 million, just 3 years after buying the app for $7.3 billion
-
Customers line up on Ohio’s first day of recreational marijuana sales
-
Jury orders city of Naperville to pay $22.5M in damages connected to wrongful conviction
-
Stephen Curry talks getting scored on in new 'Mr. Throwback' show
-
New York races to revive Manhattan tolls intended to fight traffic before Trump can block them
-
Gabby Thomas wins gold in 200, leading American track stars in final at Paris Olympics
-
Customers line up on Ohio’s first day of recreational marijuana sales
-
The Imane Khelif controversy lays bare an outrage machine fueled by lies