There is a chance the medal table at Paris 2024 will not add up.
That is because athletes from Russia and Belarus will be competing at the Olympics as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) and as well as not being allowed their national flags or anthems, they are also not going to be included in the official medal table.
Russia and Belarus are banned from sending teams to the Games following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has been supported by Belarus.
But the countries are being invited to send individual athletes who meet strict criteria set out by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) relating to whether athletes support the war or have military links.
Russia has historically sent some of the largest contingents to the Olympics – even when competing at recent Games under sanctions imposed after a doping scandal – and is one of the medal-winning heavyweights.
But this time it will be very different.
The IOC has invited just 36 Russian and 24 Belarusian athletes – of which only 15 Russians and 17 Belarusians have accepted the invitations. At Tokyo 2020, the Russian Olympic Committee sent 335 athletes and Belarus sent 101.
While Russia has said it was not planning to boycott the Games, its weightlifting federation has cited the “unsportsmanlike selection principle” in guiding its decision to turn down invitations for 10 athletes. Nine of those athletes initially accepted an invitation, according to the IOC.
Its judo federation pointed to similar concerns, saying it would not accept the “humiliating conditions” and declined the invitation for its four athletes, one of whom the IOC listed as having initially accepted.
So, how did we get to this point and what will the Olympics look like for the athletes who did accept?
What are AINs?
Athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports who have been eligible to compete as neutral athletes at Paris 2024 will participate as AINs (Individual Neutral Athlete or Athlete Individuel Neutre in French).
It is the fourth successive Olympics where Russians are competing under an acronym.
Before its invasion of Ukraine, Russia was already being sanctioned on the international sporting stage for a state-sponsored doping scandal.
The last time it was able to compete at an Olympics under its own flag and with its own anthem was at the 2016 Rio Games.
At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, Russians who could prove they were clean competed as ROC (Russian Olympic Committee), while at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, they competed as OARs (Olympic Athletes of Russia).
As ROC and OAR, they appeared as a group in the medal tables. But as AINs they will not – firstly because the IOC is not including their medals in their table of nations, but in any case they are individuals rather than a team.
How are Russians eligible to compete?
The IOC initially banned Russian and Belarusian athletes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Belarus is a close ally of Russia and supports its war in Ukraine.
The IOC later decided athletes from the two countries would be able to participate as neutrals if they met strict eligibility conditions, saying that letting individuals take part was about “respecting human rights”.
Among the conditions are:
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Athletes must not actively support the war
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Athletes must not be contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies (many Russian sports clubs have direct links to the military and security services)
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No teams are allowed
Athletes had to qualify for the Games and then pass a double vetting check – first by their international sports federation and then by the IOC, which set up an Individual Neutral Athlete Eligibility Review Panel (AINERP) to evaluate eligibility against those conditions.
If they passed the checks, they were then invited by the IOC to participate at the Games.
There will be no AIN track and field athletes because World Athletics has banned all Russians and Belarusians.
How many Russians will take part at Paris 2024?
The International Olympic Committee said last year it was expecting a maximum of 55 Russians and 28 Belarusians at Paris 2024, with 36 and 22 respectively the “most probable scenario”.
Just 15 Russians and 17 Belarusians have accepted invitations.
That is in stark contrast to Tokyo 2020, where the ROC was one of the largest delegations with 335 competitors across 30 sports.
They finished fifth in the medal table in Tokyo with 71 medals (20 gold, 28 silver, 23 bronze).
Russia has dominated some events for many years and so the absence of so many of its competitors will open up chances for other countries.
This includes, for example, artistic swimming where Russians have won both the team and duet gold medals at the past six Games, and rhythmic gymnastics where Russia have won team and individual gold in five out of the past six Olympics.
Which Russians will compete at Paris 2024?
Former world number one tennis player Daniil Medvedev is the most high-profile Russian set to take part.
Also among the 15 Russians to accept an invitation are a further six tennis players, one trampoline gymnast, three canoeists, three road cyclists and one swimmer.
According to the IOC, nine of 10 invited wrestlers had initially accepted an invitation but have subsequently declined. The other declined immediately.
Among the 21 to have turned down invitations are tennis players Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Daria Kasatkina and road cyclist Aleksandr Vlasov.
Meanwhile, among the 17 Belarusians to accept an invitation is Ivan Litvinovich, who will be defending his men’s trampoline title.
He is joined by another trampoline gymnast, three swimmers, two canoeists, two shooters, two rowers, two wrestlers, two weightlifters, one road cyclist and one taekwondo athlete.
Among the seven Belarusians to have declined are two-time Grand Slam tennis champions Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka.
What flag will Russians compete under?
If an AIN is on the podium, the teal and white flag featuring the AIN logo will be raised at the medal ceremony.
Athletes may use this emblem on their kit, which must otherwise be white or unicolour.
The athletes cannot display any Russian or Belarusian colours, flags or emblems – and these are also banned from the venues.
What anthem will Russians have if they win gold?
You will not hear the Russian or Belarusian national anthems at medal ceremonies at Paris 2024.
If an AIN wins gold then a specially written anthem with no lyrics will be played.
Is Putin invited to the Olympics?
No Russian or Belarusian government or state officials have been invited to or accredited for these Olympics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last year that while he was in favour of Russians competing at the Games, a further assessment was needed of what the neutral status would mean for his country’s athletes.
“If the IOC’s artificial conditions are designed to cut off the best Russian athletes and portray at the Olympics that Russian sport is dying, then you need to decide whether to go there at all,” he said.
That was similar to the sentiment expressed by the Russian judo federation – a sport in which Putin himself is a black belt – when it said rejected any selection method “aimed at… breaking the spirit of Russian athletes”.
Russia has been critical of the IOC and its restrictions on its athletes, with its foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying the sporting body had “slipped into racism and neo-Nazism”.
What reception might Russians get in Paris?
When it announced its decision to allow AINs at the Games, the IOC said one of its considerations had been that an “overwhelming majority of athletes” did not want to “punish fellow athletes for the actions of their government”.
Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee issued recommendations in May urging its athletes to avoid contact with Russians and Belarusians at Paris 2024 so that possible “provocative actions” can be prevented.
Its recommendations also suggested Ukrainian athletes should not take part in news conferences or interviews with athletes from the two countries and to avoid being photographed with them at medal ceremonies.
Many Ukrainian athletes have already been avoiding handshakes with Russian and Belarusian opponents since the invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last year that allowing Russia to compete at the Olympics would amount to showing that “terror is somehow acceptable”, adding that there is no neutrality in sport while his country’s athletes are dying on the battlefield.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said in March that Russian and Belarusian athletes were “not welcome” at the Games.
The UK government, which had previously supported the IOC’s ban on Russians and Belarusians, expressed support in April for the IOC’s decision to allow them to compete in Paris as neutrals.
