(Lausanne) The International Olympic Committee on Saturday authorized 14 Russians and 11 Belarusians to participate under a neutral banner in the Paris Games (July 26-August 11), a first list limited to four disciplines and expected to be completed.
Two thirds of the athletes concerned will line up in wrestling (16), but the IOC has also validated the presence of two weightlifters, three trampoline gymnasts and four road cyclists – including Russian Alexandr Vlasov, winner of the 2022 Tour de Romandie and fourth in the Giro in 2021.
“Our cyclists have passed the test,” rejoiced the president of the Russian Cycling Federation, Vyacheslav Ekimov, to the TASS agency. He believed that Vlasov “would take part in the Olympics, and with great pleasure.”
To appear in this first list, the “neutral individual athletes” had to overcome both the obstacle of qualifications and a double check, by the international federations then the IOC, of their absence of active support for the war in Ukraine and of connection with their country’s army.
The group of experts, set up in March, “was able to benefit from new information from different sources, in particular from the official lists of athletes affiliated to sports clubs of the armed and security forces, published on the official websites in Russia and Belarus,” said the IOC.
The Olympic body must still update its list, as and when the final results of the qualifications come out: no athlete will be part of it since the World Athletics federation has maintained a total exclusion of Russians and Belarusians, while certain sports reintegrated so late that their presence is uncertain.
Thus, World Aquatics, which oversees world swimming, on Friday granted neutrality status to Russian swimmer Yuliya Efimova, six-time world champion, and to just under a dozen Belarusian swimmers. But Efimova estimated that she would have difficulty qualifying on time, especially since she cannot participate in the events in Europe due to lack of a visa and will then have to go through the IOC screening.
When the IOC list is final, it will remain to be seen the response of Russian and Belarusian sports organizations: if Moscow finally gave up boycotting the Paris Games, its gymnasts have all decided to refuse to participate, while the federations of rowing and judo are, conversely, willing to send athletes.
The Olympic organization, after initially banning athletes from the two countries from world sport after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, orchestrated their gradual return, under a neutral banner, under strict conditions and excluding straight away the team events.
Last March, the IOC expected 36 Russians and 22 Belarusians at the Paris Games “according to the most likely scenario”, and 55 and 28 respectively “at the maximum”, a significantly sparser presence than during the 2020 Tokyo Games: the Russians numbered 330, while Belarus had qualified 104 athletes.
Deprived of their official colors, the “neutral individual athletes” will also not be able to parade on the Seine during the opening ceremony, and will not appear in the medal table.
In March, the IOC awarded them a dedicated flag, stamped with the letters “AIN” on an apple green background, as well as a short composition without words, which will serve as their anthem in the event of an Olympic title.
