Sports Editorial, June 27 (EFE).- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced this Thursday an updated list of 22 Russian and 17 Belarusian athletes authorized to compete as neutrals in the Paris 2024 Games, which will be held between June 26. July and August 11.
After initially banning the participation of athletes from both countries in world sport due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the IOC planned their gradual return under a neutral flag, subject to strict conditions and excluding team events from the beginning. .
The IOC clarifies that this list, which revises an initial list of 15 June limited to four disciplines, will continue to be updated based on the decisions of the review committee of the list of individual neutral athletes.
He also reported that he had received the first refusals to be in Paris, from two Russians, including the cyclist Aleksandr Vlasov, and five Belarusians.
In tennis, the IOC has invited Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, currently number 5 and 6 in the world, as well as, in the women’s tournament, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (16) and Russians Daria Kasatkina (14) and Liudmila Samsonova (15).
Russia gave up boycotting the Paris Games, although all its gymnasts have decided to refuse to participate, while the rowing and judo federations are willing to send athletes.
In March, the IOC had expected 36 Russians and 22 Belarusians to take part in the Paris Games “in the most likely scenario”, and 55 and 28 respectively “at most”, which is much smaller than in Tokyo 2020, where there were 330 Russians and 104 Belarusians.
The list is made up of athletes with Belarusian or Russian passports whose admission has been confirmed and who have been invited to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Qualification places were determined in the competition through existing qualifying events and the requirements of admission established by international federations.
In some sports, the number of eligible athletes may be less than the number of qualification places obtained, explains the IOC, adding that, in that case, the available qualification places will be reallocated to athletes from other national Olympic committees in accordance with the classification system of the international federation in question.
Participation in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is subject to the athlete “accepting the individual invitation and signing the conditions of participation applicable to all participants,” the IOC said. “These conditions include a commitment to respect the Olympic Charter, in particular the peace mission of the Olympic Movement,” it stressed.
(c) EFE Agency
2024-06-27 19:52:08
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