IOC approves 14 Russians, 11 Belarusians neutral status for Paris Olympics: Reports

As per reports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has allowed 14 Russians and 11 Belarusians to participate in the Paris Olympics 2024 with neutral status. This is, however, just the first list. The first round of discussions among the IOC vetting panel assessed five sports, excluding tennis, swimming, and judo.

Notably, the sports that were discussed were cycling, gymnastics, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling. Among the athletes who have been granted the chance is the defending Olympic champion in the men's trampoline, Ivan Litvinovich. Moreover, a few other sports will also probably be added in the upcoming days after another meeting (it is a two-stage vetting process).

Russia and Belarus have been banned from the Paris Olympics due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. Individual athletes who hold Russian and Belarusian passports have received permission to compete as neutrals in qualifying events in most other sports and then apply for entry to the Summer Games.

Ukrainian officials and even athletes requested the IOC to put a blanket ban on all Russians, with the track and field discipline implementing the same.

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Russia at the Olympics

After the Russian Olympic Committee came into existence in 1991 and received recognition in 1993, Russian athletes have taken to the Olympics six times since then. Notably, before 1991, when the USSR existed, it hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. Moreover, post the USSR era, the Russian Federation hosted the Winter Games in 2014.

To date, Russian athletes have bagged a total of 546 medals - 425 at the Summer Games and 121 at the Winter Games. Notably, Russia is only behind the USA and China in terms of total medals. Speaking of the sports individually, Russia has the most gold medals in wrestling (31) in the Summer Games and cross-country skiing (14) in the Winter Games.

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