Over 200 countries will soon be receiving a formal invitation to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but Russia and Belarus will be excluded because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee announced Thursday. However, athletes will be allowed to participate under a neutral flag.
The 2024 Olympics will take place July 26 to Aug. 11, but the invitations go out a year in advance, per tradition.
"The IOC will take this decision at the appropriate time, at its full discretion, and without being bound by the results of previous Olympic qualification competitions," read a statement from the IOC.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and the conflict has still not been resolved. Meanwhile, Belarus ditched its neutral status and has sided with Russia. In response to the aggression, the IOC Executive Board had originally recommended no participation of athletes from either country.
Russia invading Ukraine broke the Olympic Truce during the Beijing Winter Olympics because peace was supposed to be kept until deep into March. The truce in modern history starts one week before the main opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, and it ends one week after the conclusion of the Paralympics. The Olympic Truce has been violated three times in Olympics modern history, and Russia has been the violator each time.
IOC has acknowledged that deciding which countries and athletes should be allowed to compete has been a controversial topic.
"In Russia, even before the publication of the recommendations, the IOC was already called 'agents of the United States of America.'" the IOC's statement read.
But while Russia claimed the IOC was violating the "basic principles of the Olympic Charter and the UN Charter," Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called for all Russian athletes to be banned from the Paris Olympics.
"The fact that both sides in this confrontation are not satisfied might indicate that the IOC has found some middle ground on which all sides can move forward to make a contribution to understanding and peace," the IOC's statement read. "The entire Olympic Movement strongly stands by its values to unite the world in peaceful competition."
Earlier this year, the IOC said governments should not decide which athletes can participate in competitions, and also that an athlete shouldn't be denied the ability to participate because of their passport.
The Group of Seven leaders met in May and supported the IOC recommendations, saying they are "fully respecting the autonomy of sporting organizations" while adding it must be ensured that "Russian and Belarusian athletes are in no way appearing as representatives of their states."
Guatemala, a country that is currently suspended by the IOC because of a domestic legal dispute, will also not receive an invitation to participate in the Paris Olympics.
