Why is the Russian flag banned from the 2024 Olympics in Paris?
One of the perennial powerhouses of the Olympic Games, Russia has been banned from competing but its athletes haven’t. So, how exactly does that work?
Back in March the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Russian athletes who qualified for the Summer Games in Paris would NOT be allowed to participate in the Opening Ceremonies, however, they would be allowed “to experience the event” which likely means spectating while other nations parade on floats down the Seine.
Russia at the Paris 2024 Olympics
With the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris now just one day away, we know that despite the ban on Russia as a country, there are in fact 15 athletes representing the nation this summer. To be clear, Russia was banned from participation in all team sports by the IOC as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. Regarding athletes themselves, it’s worth noting that of the aforementioned 15, six of them of tennis players including World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev (the 2021 U.S. Open champion), Pavel Kotov, Roman Safiullin, Ekaterina Aleksandrova, Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.
As for who won’t be there, Russian athletes won two of the eight gold medals awarded in taekwondo at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, however, no athletes from the sport were approved by the IOC. The same also applies to men’s volleyball and women’s handball, sports in which Russia won silver medals in Tokyo. Needless to say, this is a particularly harsh blow when considering the fact that the Russian men’s volleyball team has won a medal 11 of the 15 times the sport has been played at the Olympics, while the women’s handball team has been in the final of the past two Olympics, winning a gold medal in 2016.
This brings us to the question of identity. If the country itself is not permitted to have a presence but some of its athletes are, what identity will they use i.e., can they use the Russian flag or its colors? The answer to that question is a flat no. As per the IOC, Russian athletes will be considered Individual Neutral Athletes - abbreviated as AIN, following the French translation of that phrase - and will not be permitted to feature the Russian flag on their uniforms, instead wearing the red, white, and blue of France’s flag. Should a Russian athlete win a gold medal, the country’s national anthem will be replaced by IOC-commissioned music, while the generic AIN flag will be raised.