Can Russian athletes compete at the Paris Olympics? The reason for the country's ban from the Games

A few Russian athletes are eligible to compete at the upcoming Paris Olympics with a stipulation that they cannot use any identifiers that represent their nation in any way. These identifiers include emblems, colors, flags, logos, insignia, or badges.

A ban was imposed on Russian athletes following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A few athletes, including elite wrestlers such as Abdulrashid Sadulev, Zaur Rizvanovich Uguev, Zaurbek Sidakov, and Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau were prohibited, citing their previous record of backing the Russia-Ukraine war.

However, the International Olympic Council (IOC) later permitted a few Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under the tag of AIN (Individual Neutral Athletes) only after the athletes were deemed eligible by the AINERP (Individual Neutral Athlete Eligibility Review Panel).

While a few athletes were barred from competing in Paris, some others, including Veronika Chumikova, Elizaveta Petliakova, Shamil Mamedov, Abdulla Kurbanov, Andrey Rubkev, Anastasia Potapova, and Alexandr Vlasov were considered eligible and invited to the French capital. However, these athletes later declined the invitation.

The IOC allowed only a few individual Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete and excluded all the national teams, including basketball from competing in Paris.

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Russian athletes who are eligible and accepted the invitation to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics

Daniil Medvedev will compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics under the AIN tag. (Image via Getty)

Daniil Medvedev will compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics as AIN. He competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, advancing to the quarterfinal where he was beaten by Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta.

Medvedev will be joined by fellow tennis players, including Roman Safiullin, Ekaterina Aleksandrova, Mirra Andreeva and Pavel Kotov. Anzhela Bladtceva is the only gymnast with a Russian passport invited to compete in Paris.

Evgenii Somov is the only swimmer with a Russian passport who will compete in the French capital. The swimmer was invited after he recorded the qualifying score of 100m breaststroke at the 2024 Atlanta Classic, posting 58.72s.

Russian athletes in cycling at Paris Games:

• Tamara DRONOVA (F)
• Alena IVANCHENKO (F)
• Gleb SYRITSA (M)

Russian athletes in gymnastics and trampoline at Paris Games:

• Anzhela BLADTCEVA (F)

Russian athletes in tennis at the Paris Games:

• Daniil MEDVEDEV (M)
• Roman SAFIULLIN (M)
• Ekaterina ALEKSANDROVA (F)
• Mirra ANDREEVA (F)
• Pavel KOTOV (M)
• Diana SHNAIDER (F)
• Elena VESNINA (F)

Russian athletes in canoe at the Paris Games:

• Aleksei KOROVASHKOV (M)
• Zakhar PETROV (M)
• Olesia ROMASENKO (F)

Russian athletes in swimming

• Evgenii SOMOV (M)