With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, qualified athletes from Belarus and Russia who will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics will play independently and without representing their national anthems or flags.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that athletes from the said countries will not be included in the opening ceremony parade happening in July, and will take place on the Seine River instead of a stadium. An estimated 300,000 spectators will be present at the event.
Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete as individual neutral athletes (AINs) and there will be a created flag and anthem without lyrics for them, which will be coming from the IOC.
Tough for Russians and Belarusians?
The Olympic body stated: “They will not participate in the parade of delegations during the opening ceremony, since they are individual athletes.” However, aside from team parades, they would still be given the chance to experience other parts of the opening ceremony.
“This decision is the logical consequence of the fact that the athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports are not selected as delegations but as individual athletes,” Paris 2024 Games organizers admitted.
The IOC declared that they are anticipating 36 Russian and 22 Belarusian athletes playing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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Source: Rappler