A small group of Russian and Belarusian athletes will still compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics despite ongoing sanctions stemming from the war in Ukraine.
Russia has had its participation in the Olympics limited for the better part of the last decade amid various levels of bans following a widespread state-sponsored sports doping scandal.
At the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Games, some Russians who passed anti-doping checks were allowed to compete as neutral athletes, under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
This time, however, Russia’s participation – and that of its ally Belarus – at the 2024 Olympic Games is affected by the conflict sparked by the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with only a small contingent of Russians and Belarusians now set to compete in Paris as “Individual Neutral Athletes”.
Here’s everything we know about Russian and Belarusian athletes competing at the 2024 Olympics, including how many athletes have passed the strict vetting process imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to date.
What does AIN mean?
AIN is the abbreviation and IOC country code representing Individual Neutral Athletes (translated from the French “Athletes Individuels Neutres”).
It is the name – and flag – under which any eligible athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete this summer. This is because any flags, anthems, colours or other identifications associated with the two countries are barred from being displayed amid ongoing sanctions imposed following the invasion of Ukraine.
This only applies to athletes in individual sports, with both nations banned from entering team sports at the Games.
Any athletes who pass the IOC’s vetting process will still not be allowed to participate in the historic Paris 2024 opening ceremony, but the IOC has said that “an opportunity will be provided to them to experience the event”.
A flag has been approved, which will be flown while an approved anthem – which has no lyrics – is played if AIN athletes win a medal in Paris. These medals will not be displayed on National Olympic Committee medal tables alongside the tallies racked up by other nations.
How do Russian and Belarusian athletes qualify?
After initially considering and then ruling out a blanket ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes at Paris 2024, the IOC said it would allow a limited number of athletes from the two nations to compete in the Olympics as long as they meet a set of “strict eligibility conditions“.
The AIN Eligibility Review Panel (AINERP) was set up by the IOC to evaluate every athlete with a Russian or Belarusian passport who had or could earn a qualification standard for Paris.
They are vetted based on the following conditions:
- Qualified athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport will be entered and compete as Individual Neutral Athletes (“AINs”).
- Teams of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport will not be considered.
- Athletes or support personnel who actively support the war will not be eligible to be entered or compete.
- Athletes or support personnel contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies are ineligible.
- Any AINs, like all participating athletes, must meet all anti-doping requirements applicable to them.
There is also a ban on Russian and Belarusian government or state officials.
How many Russian and Belarusians are competing?
There are set to be 15 Russian athletes and 18 Belarusian athletes competing at Paris 2024, according to the last update from the IOC on Saturday 20 July.
The number of athletes invited – around 36 from Russia and about two dozen from Belarus – was decided based on sport-by-sport qualifying standards and per-country athlete quotas.
According to the most recent list of athletes set to attend, which you can find in full here, several Russian and Belarusian athletes appear to have qualified and received an invitation to compete in Paris, but declined it.
However, adding further controversy to the mix, lawyers from a human rights non-profit have said the majority of the Russian athletes and several of the Belarusian athletes set to participate in the Olympics have violated the neutrality rules they are obliged to follow.
The organisation, Global Rights Compliance (GRC), compiled a dossier based on open-source information that listed violations of the neutrality rules by 17 Russian and Belarusian athletes who were declared eligible and accepted an invitation to the Games by the IOC.
Included in the dossier are allegations that one tennis player “liked” posts about “military feats” of Russian soldiers killing Ukrainians and posts displaying the pro-war “Z” symbol while another “liked” a post that appeared to anticipate the funeral of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A cyclist also allegedly violated rules by “liking” posts questioning Ukraine’s right to exist and supporting the annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk.