Russia, Belarus athletes may see Paris 2024 ban

Athletes from Russia and Belarus may not be permitted to contend at the Paris 2024 Games over Moscow’s intrusion of Ukraine, senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Craig Reedie said.

The IOC gave direction to sports governing bodies in February to eliminate the two nations’ athletes from rivalry. Belarus has been utilized as an organizing ground for Russia’s intrusion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.

“A decision is going to have to be taken on what happens to each of these two countries, and my guess is that the general feeling would be that they should not qualify,” former IOC vice-president Reedie told British media.

“Most people are struggling with how we could achieve some degree of representation, but at the moment, there is no clear way to do it. Therefore, you maintain the status quo.”

Of the games on the Olympic program, just cycling, tennis and judo have permitted Russians and Belarusians to keep on contending yet Reedie said he questioned even competitors from those sports would be allowed to partake in qualifying events.

“So there’s a real issue for the federations, who have a clear instruction which they’ve agreed to that they won’t invite Russians and Belarusians to take part in events.

“On the face of it, it’s unlikely that anybody would qualify other than those three sports which don’t do it that way. And will they be able to qualify (from those three sports)? I’m not sure.”