Russians and Belarusians will not take part in the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics in July, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday.

The athletes from the two countries, who qualify for the Games, will be competing as independents without their flags and anthems following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The opening ceremony in Paris will not be held in a stadium but will be staged on the river Seine with teams floating past an estimated 300,000 spectators.

The Russians and Belarusians, who will be competing as individual neutral athletes (AINs) under a specially-created flag and with an anthem without lyrics produced by the IOC, will not be part of that parade. But the Paris 2024 Games organisers said they would experience all other parts of the opening ceremony apart from the team parade.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, who has long opposed a Russian presence at the Paris Olympics, welcomed the decision. “I take note of the IOC’s responsible decision regarding the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. This is a step in the right direction,” she said. “I have always held a very clear position on the subject, refusing to allow Russian athletes to attend the Olympic Games since the beginning of the conflict.”

Reuters