What is AIN at the 2024 Olympics in Paris? Why Russian athletes can’t represent their country
206 countries and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team will feature in Paris, as well as AINs. But who are they?
The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris features 206 countries, in addition to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Refugee Olympic Team, which first competed in the 2016 event in Rio de Janeiro. One additional group of athletes will also be taking part, whose IOC Code - AIN - may have you scratching your head when you see it on screen for the first time.
“What country could that possibly be?” you ask. The answer is countries, plural, rather than country, singular.
The term AIN refers to Individual Neutral Athletes, who hail from the two countries than have been banned from the 2024 Olympics - Russia and Belarus.
Did you know?🤔
— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) July 21, 2024
Russia and Belarus will not be part of the Paris Olympics due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.🇷🇺🇧🇾🇺🇦
The athletes will play under a neutral flag.#Paris2024 #Olympics #SKIndianSports pic.twitter.com/ipz7znAkhI
Why are Russia and Belarus banned from the 2024 Olympics?
The Olympic Committees of both countries were suspended by the IOC after being judged to have violated the Olympic Truce, which is designed to “protect, as far as possible, the interests of the athletes and sport in general, and to harness the power of sport to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation more broadly.”
Russia’s ban is due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, while Belarus has been similarly sanctioned for its role in providing a base for Russian military operations, as well as a supplier of military hardware, munitions, and military components to Russia.
The British Olympic Association, together with the National Olympic Committee of Germany, have demanded the IMMEDIATE exclusion of Russia and Belarus from the international sports family until further notice. pic.twitter.com/mEQ36aKVbu
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) February 28, 2022
Which athletes will be competing as AINs?
While there will be no Russian or Belorussian teams, individual athletes from those countries are able to take part as AINs after meeting strict eligibility conditions (one of which is not actively supporting the war).
Daniil Medvedev, the world No. 5 in tennis, will feature in both the men’s singles and doubles events as the highest profile AIN. In all, there are 32 AINs, 15 from Russia and 17 from Belarus. A number of athletes, including Tokyo tennis doubles gold medallist Andrey Rublev and world tour cyclist Aleksandr Vlasov, rejected the chance to compete as AINs.
Confusingly, the English acronym for Individual Neutral Athletes would be INA, which is actually the IOC code for Indonesia, who will also be competing in Paris. Instead, Russian and Belorussian athletes win use AIN as their code, after the French name Athlètes Individuels Neutres.
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