The IOC has just approved the first list of twenty-five Russian and Belarusian athletes eligible to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games under a neutral flag. Two thirds will line up to fight (16). The IOC also confirmed the presence of two weightlifters, three trampoline specialist gymnasts and four road cyclists, including Russia’s Alexander Vlasov, winner of the 2022 Tour de Romandie and fourth at the 2021 Giro.
“Our cyclists passed the test,” Vyacheslav Ekimov, president of the Russian Cycling Federation, rejoiced to the TASS agency, clarifying that Vlasov “will take part in the Olympics, and with great pleasure.”
Russian Angela Bladtseva, vice-world champion in trampolining last February in Baku, will also be in Paris, confirmed the head of the Russian Federation Nikolai Makarov.
Ukraine welcomes removal of ‘undisclosed propagandists’
To be on this first list, “neutral individual athletes” had to overcome the hurdle of qualifying and being double-checked by the international federations and then the IOC for their lack of active support for or connection to the war in Ukraine. with the army of his country.
The group of experts, created in March, “was able to take advantage of new information from various sources, in particular, official lists of athletes associated with sports clubs of the armed forces and security forces, published on official websites in Russia and Belarus.” clarifies the IOC.
The Ministry of Sports of Ukraine, in turn, welcomed the removal of “disclosed propagandists” to the background. “The IOC took into account the evidence that we provided to it together with the Ukrainian Olympic Committee and sports federations,” ministry spokesman Matvey Bidny said in a statement, thanking “investigative journalists and colleagues from government agencies” for their own verification work.
The Olympic body will still have to update its list as the final qualifying results become known: no athlete will be included because the athletics federation, World Athletics, has maintained a blanket exclusion of Russians and Belarusians and some sports have been reinstated. them so late that their presence is doubtful.
Thus, the World Aquatic Association, which oversees world swimming, on Friday granted neutral status to Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, a six-time world champion, and just under a dozen Belarusian swimmers. But Efimova calculated that it would be difficult for her to qualify on time, especially since she would not be able to participate in events in Europe due to the lack of a visa and would then have to undergo IOC selection.
Private opening ceremony
When the IOC list is final, it remains to be seen how Russian and Belarusian sports organizations will react: if Moscow finally abandons its boycott of the Paris Games, then all its gymnasts have decided to refuse to participate, and the rowing and judo federations, on the contrary, are ready to send athletes.
As for tennis, the head of the Russian Federation Shamil Tarpichev told the TASS agency that Andrei Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Lyudmila Samsonova “will not play at the Olympics.”
In March last year, the IOC expected 36 Russians and 22 Belarusians at the Paris Games “according to the most likely scenario,” and, respectively, 55 and 28 “at the maximum,” that is, a significantly rarer presence than during the Olympics in Tokyo 2020: there were Russians. 330, and 104 athletes qualified from Belarus.
Stripped of their official colours, “neutral individual athletes” will also not be able to march along the Seine during the opening ceremony and will not appear on the medal table.
In March, the IOC awarded them a special flag with the letters “AIN” on an apple-green background, as well as a short, wordless song that would serve as their anthem should they win the Olympic title.
Source: Le Parisien
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