What is AIN at the Paris 2024 Olympics, what country are they from and does Russia have a team?

A GROUP of top athletes will be taking part in the Olympics as neutrals, complete with their own anthem.

Read on to find out why they’re not allowed to complete under their country’s flag at the Paris 2024 games.

The Olympic rings overlook the Eiffel TowerAP

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach following discussions about the status of athletes from Russia and BelarusAP

The International Olympic Committee headquarters in SwitzerlandReuters

What is AIN at the Paris 2024 Olympics?

AIN is the name used to represent 31 athletes from Belarus and Russia who are competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Both countries were banned from entering the games due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Belarus has provided military support to Russia throughout the war.

AIN stands for Athlètes Individuels Neutres – which translates from French as Individual Neutral Athletes.

The group aren’t allowed to use either the Olympic flag or its anthem.

They have to instead use a flag which shows the round AIN symbol, along with a specially-composed anthem which has been created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Normally individual countries select their competing athletes through their own Olympic committee, however that’s not the case for this group.

A special panel was set up by the IOC, who took recommendations from each sport’s international body.

Because the athletes are all competing individually, they won’t be allowed to take part as a group in the opening flag ceremony – although the IOC says they’ll still “be given the opportunity to experience the event”.

AIN athletes also won’t be counted as a group in the medal tallies – they’ll just be listed on their own rather than added up.

The plans have been controversial though.

A group of ten wrestlers from Russia were invited to complete, but they decided to boycott the games.

They were unhappy at the selection process, saying a number of top Russian wrestlers weren’t called up who should have been.

There were worries of threats towards athletes who chose to compete as neutrals, however Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko encouraged them to participate.

He’s reassured them they wouldn’t be breaking the country’s law.

Does Russia have a team at the Paris 2024 Olympics?

The IOC decided in 2023 to exclude the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) from taking part in the Paris Olympics.

Gymnast Ivan Litvinovich of Belarus will be competing under the AIN flagAlamy Live News

Cyclist Tamara Dronova of Russia will be competing under the AIN flagGetty

Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev will be competing under the AIN flagGetty

This came after Russia decided to include regional sports organisations from occupied regions of Ukraine within the ROC.

They wanted to have athletes from Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia compete under the ROC flag.

The IOC said this went against the Olympic Charter because it “violates the territorial integrity” of the Ukrainian Olympic committee.

Russia has a history of controversy at the Olympics.

The country was banned from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea because of violations of doping rules.

In games since they’ve competed under the name ROC rather than Russia, and haven’t been allowed to use the country’s flag or national anthem.