The IOC will not allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in the athletes’ parade at the Olympic opening ceremony. A decision on the graduation ceremony will be made later.
Athletes from Russia are not allowed to take part in the athletes’ parade at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. The head of the International Olympic Committee made this decision on Tuesday after discussions in Lausanne. Athletes from Belarus, a close ally of Russia, are also not allowed to take part in the planned event on the Seine to open the Summer Games on July 26th because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
The IOC announced that athletes from both countries should be given the chance to witness the ceremony. A decision about whether to take part in the closing ceremony on August 11th will be made later. At the beginning of the month, the makers of the Paralympics, which will also take place in Paris shortly after the Olympic Games (August 28th to September 8th), made a similar decision. At both the Olympics and the Games for disabled athletes, starters from Russia and Belarus are only admitted to the competitions under certain conditions.
Requirements for athletes from Russia and Belarus
Participants from these countries must compete under a neutral flag. Their anthems are not allowed to be played and they are forbidden from wearing or displaying national symbols at the Olympic sites. Teams are completely excluded, only individual athletes are allowed. The medals won by Russians and Belarusians are not included in the medal table. In addition, the responsible world associations and the IOC are to ensure in a multi-stage review process that the athletes from Russia and Belarus who are eligible to compete have no connections to the army or security organs. In addition, they must not have actively supported the war in Ukraine.
A three-member IOC review committee is supposed to guarantee compliance with these conditions. Russia considers the requirements to be “illegal, unfair and unacceptable,” said Stanislav Posdnyakov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). The Russians recently ruled out a boycott of the Olympics. The ROC itself was suspended by the IOC for including the four annexed Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia. Russian politicians and top sports officials should not have access to the Olympic competitions.
Critics fear propaganda campaigns
Opponents of the start clearance for Russia’s athletes, especially Ukraine, fear propaganda campaigns at the Summer Games. There are no neutral athletes in Russia, Ukrainian Sports Minister Matwij Bidny recently told the German Press Agency.
The IOC recently pointed out that due to the conditions of participation, only a significantly smaller number of Russian athletes would take part in Paris than at previous Olympic Games.