Russian athletes allowed to take part in Olympics closing ceremony despite banishment over Ukraine war

Russian athletes competing at the Paris Olympics as neutral individual athletes will be allowed to attend the closing ceremony on Sunday, officials said.

Athletes from Russia were not allowed to attend the opening ceremony and have not been able to represent their country in Paris due to its ongoing war against Ukraine. 

"The IOC Executive Board has decided that the Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) can participate at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024," the IOC said in a statement, via Reuters.

Russia was barred from competing in Paris, because it had invaded Ukraine just four days after the end of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The International Olympic Committee considered this attack a violation of the Olympic truce — a resolution that calls for all nations to lay down arms and not engage in conflict, starting one week before the Olympics begin and ending one week after the end. 

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A rocket is fired from the Russian army's Grad rocket launchers at an undisclosed location in Ukraine.  (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

The Russian Olympic Committee lost its appeal against its suspension by the International Olympic Committee in February. 

Belarus, which was used as a staging ground for the invasion, was also not allowed to compete in Paris, but any Belarusian athletes competing as neutrals will also be allowed to attend the closing ceremony. 

A total of 32 athletes from Russia and Belarus combined competed in Paris – 17 previously represented Belarus, and only 15 represented Russia. However, most of them returned home after their respective events ended. 

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Belarusians Ivan Litvinovich and Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya became the first athletes from either of these countries to win medals in Paris, both in trampoline. Litvinovich took gold in the men's competition, while Bardzilouskaya took women's silver. Russian women's tennis players Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva became the first Russian athletes to win medals in Paris, taking silver in women’s doubles last Sunday. 

Silver Medallists Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider of Team Individual Neutral Athletes pose on the podium during the Tennis Women's Doubles medal ceremony after the Tennis Women's Doubles Gold medal match.  (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

However, those medals are not counted as a collective group in the overall medals table.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Olympic team has also been dramatically affected by the Russian invasion. 

More than 3,000 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have fought in the war, and nearly 500 have died, according to the Ukrainian Sports Ministry. This year’s Olympic Games in Paris saw only 140 athletes from Ukraine, marking the country's smallest summer Olympic delegation in history.

Gold Medalist Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Team Ukraine poses on the podium during the Boxing Men's 80kg medal ceremony after the Boxing Men's 80kg Final match on day twelve of the Paris Olympics. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

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Russia's war against Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, just days after the conclusion of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has now gone on for two years, five months and two weeks.

A display with sports equipment was set up at Parliament Square in London to honor the 487 Ukrainian athletes killed since Russia’s invasion of the country. Oleksandr Pielieshenko, who competed in weightlifting at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and Kateryna Diachenko, an 11-year-old rhythmic gymnast killed in March 2022, were among those remembered.

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