Paris mayor: Belarusian, Russian athletes will not be welcome at Olympics

March 31, Pozirk. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has stated that Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be welcome in the French capital, Blood Games 2024 reported on X yesterday.

Seven Belarusian and 12 Russian athletes were allowed to compete in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics as individual neutral athletes, International Olympic Committee official James Macleod said last week.

Although they will not take part in the Parade of Nations, they will be given an opportunity to “experience” the opening ceremony, he said.

Visiting Kyiv on March 29, Hidalgo supported Ukrainian athletes. “Paris will welcome you like heroes. You will feel at home in Paris,” she said, according to a Russian translation.

When the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, the IOC urged sports federations to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competitions.

It later recommended that some of them could be allowed as neutral athletes under certain conditions, such as not supporting the war. In December 2023, the IOC allowed neutrals to compete in the 2024 Olympics.

The Olympics will be held from July 26 to August 11.