IOC President Thomas Bach has announced that all athletes “willing to respect the conditions” set by the International Olympic Committee would be “welcome” at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
The IOC conditions require that Russian and Belarusian athletes who qualify must not have actively supported the Russian offensive in Ukraine, and must compete as individuals under a neutral flag at the 2024 Olympics (26 July-11 August).
The IOC has also said that the neutral flag athletes would not be allowed to take part in the opening ceremony in Paris.
Russia is reported to have said that the conditions set by the IOC were illegitimate, unfair and unacceptable, but that they would not boycote the Games.
Russia announced a plan back in May last year to host a ‘Friendship Games’ in Moscow in September 2024, as they did when they boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
With a winter edition of the Friendship Games also expected to be held in Sochi in 2026, the same year that the Winter Olympics are taking place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The IOC said the plan is a “blatant violation of the Olympic Charter”.
As part of the IOC’s sanctions on Russia and its ally Belarus, no international sporting events can be organised in either of the nations, while their flags, national anthems or any other national symbol must not be used.
To date some 58 neutral athletes with Russian / Belarus passports are expected to qualify for the Paris Games. The number in the sailing events is not known.
World Sailing has issued a document, The World Sailing Policy for participation of Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), and Support Persons with a Russian or Belarusian Passport in the Olympic Sailing Competition for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 (the “Neutrality Policy”).
Subject to the entry conditions stipulated in the Notice of Race, any sailor who satisfies the requirements of this Neutrality Policy shall be designated an “Individual Neutral Athlete”, Athlètes Individuels Neutres” in French, (AIN).
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