Official Indicates Russia Won’t Block Neutral Athletes From Competing at Paris Olympics

It’s looking as if the Russian government will not block neutral athletes from competing at the Paris Olympics this summer, according to the latest comments from deputy prime minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.

“The conditions created by the International Olympic Committee and international federations are such that practically none of our athletes will be able to go there and will not be able to qualify,” Chernyshenko said last week. “There are quite a few sports where such an opportunity remains, and then national federations and the Russian Olympic Committee will have to make a decision together. If the athletes have the opportunity, then they probably should go.”

In December, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved its plan for Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate at the Paris 2024 Olympics as neutrals without a national flag or anthem. They were banned from international competition following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (that was assisted by Belarus) in February of 2022, but the IOC issued recommendations last March paving the way for their return. However, Russian president Vladimir Putin questioned the conditions for Olympic participation in December, saying no decision has been made yet about the country’s involvement in Paris this summer.

In order to be eligible, athletes will need to meet a strict set of criteria that includes not “actively” supporting the war in Ukraine and having no contract with the Russian or Belarusian military. Russian and Belarusian teams will also be ineligible.

Notably, neutral athletes will not have to sign a declaration condemning last year’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead, like all other athletes, they must reaffirm their commitment to respect the Olympic charter, including “the peace mission of the Olympic Movement.” In September, two-time Olympic champion swimmer Evgeny Rylov told Russian media that he’d refuse to sign a political declaration in exchange for a return to international competition.

“The assessment of the Olympics should be made by the athletes themselves,” Chernyshenko said. “If the IOC officially confirms that the conditions under which eligible athletes must condemn the [invasion of Ukraine] or abandon their homeland are being lifted, then I think that there will be no legal obstacles for athletes to go to the Olympics.”

According to Russian state news agency TASS, only 12 Russian athletes and seven Belarusians have been approved as neutral athletes for the Paris Olympics so far.

World Aquatics decided to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to the international stage in September. A few Belarusian swimmers competed at the final stop of the World Cup Series in Budapest in October. Russia opted to skip last month’s 2024 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, where Belarusian neutrals were barred from speaking with media.

Related:

• Vladimir Salnikov Believes Russia’s Chances of Competing at Paris Are ‘Close to Zero’
• Russia Will Not Pay ‘Neutral’ Olympians for Paris 2024 Participation — Medals, Maybe

In other news out of Russia, the head of the country’s national Olympic committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, pointed blame toward the United States for ongoing friction with the IOC.

“Thomas Bach says that the restoration of relations between the IOC and Russia depends completely on the ROC,” Pozdnyakov wrote. “Are there any intelligent people left in the world of sport, who understand that the key to overcoming artificially created barriers in the Olympic family, which has been in the hands of Lausanne up to now, lies across the Atlantic Ocean?

“Today, the IOC, unfortunately lost its autonomy and independence, and this is clearly reflected in the mirror of the world. Therefore, all of their slogans and statements come from the other side of the mirror.”

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) lost access to IOC funding as part of a suspension last October for breaching the Olympic Charter by recognizing sports organizations in four regions illegally annexed from Ukraine.

“From the very beginning, the IOC openly chose the side of the political conflict, which in itself contradicts its mission, consistently fulfills an external political order to isolate Russian sports, and now it has gone so far as to delegate the right to approve the candidacies of Olympic participants from one country to the national Olympic Committee of another country,” Pozdnyakov added. “But at the same time, according to Lausanne, Russia is engaged in the politicization of sports.

“To sum up the IOC statements made over the past two days, there is a sneaking feeling that the leadership of this organization has been engulfed in a deep looking glass, where cause-and-effect relationships are being reversed, black is seen as white, and some kind of parallel universe has become reality.”

Last summer, the IOC stopped recognizing the International Boxing Association (IBA) as the global governing body due to ethical issues with Russian businessman Umar Kremlev. Last week’s announcement that boxing might not be featured in the LA 2028 Olympics if a global governing body does not replace the IBA renewed tensions between the two organizations.

“The International Boxing Association (IBA) strongly condemns [IOC President] Thomas Bach, [Sports Director] Kit McConnell, [Executive Board member] Nenad Lalovic, and [Ethics and Compliance Director] Paquerette Girard Zappelli, as they continue to place themselves above the entire sports world in pursuit of their own harmful and politicized ambitions,” Kremlev said. “Time for this organization to reflect and to understand their continued mistakes and to draw appropriate conclusions. The IOC leadership attempts again to destroy the sports family and violate all the rules of clear democracy and transparency.”