MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Russian journalists working at the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympic Games in France will be prohibited from displaying their national symbols, a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told TASS on Friday.
In response to a TASS correspondent’s inquiry, the IOC spokesman attached documents stipulating that Russian athletes who are allowed to participate under a neutral status this summer in Paris will be prohibited from displaying national symbols, including the national flag colors, the state emblem and the anthem.
"The same applies for media personnel, as for all spectators as specified in the document," the spokesman said.
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be hosted by the French capital of Paris between July 26 and August 11.
According to the previously circulated IOC statement on the upcoming Olympics in France: "Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) with a Russian or Belarusian passport and their personnel may take part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 only in an individual and neutral capacity, and not in any way as representatives of the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus, or any other organization in their country, including their National Olympic Committee (NOC) or National Federation (NF)."
"No emblem/logo/mascot associated with the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, or their NFs or NOCs can be used by Individual Neutral Athletes or their support personnel, or displayed at any official Paris 2024 venue," a document from the IOC reads.
IOC’s regulations against Russia
The International Olympic Committee Executive Board convened for a meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 19-20 and following the opening day it decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in the Parade of Athletes and also exclude them from the 2024 Olympics overall medal standings.
The IOC, however, ruled that Russian athletes, cleared to participate in the upcoming Olympics, would not have to sign anything denouncing their country’s special military operation in Ukraine.
On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.
The Swiss-based CAS registered on November 6, 2023 an appeal from the ROC against the IOC’s decision on the Russian governing Olympic body’s suspension.
The suspension means that the ROC cannot act as a national Olympic committee or receive financing from the Olympic movement. The IOC however reserved the right to clear Russian athletes to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 as neutrals. Later, IOC President Thomas Bach said that Russian athletes should have no affiliation with the ROC if they want to compete at the Olympic Games.