Question Period Note: The International Olympic and Paralympic Committees have decided to allow individuals from Russia and Belarus to compete as neutral athletes at the 2024 Paris Games.

The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee decided that athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Individuals from those countries that qualify to compete at the Games must meet certain eligibility criteria and are competing as neutral individual athletes.

Canada has been resolute in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and will continue to stand firmly with Ukraine and its people alongside our allies.

We have taken measures to restrict the participation of athletes and officials representing Russia and Belarus from participating in events hosted in Canada that are funded by the Government of Canada.

Our government has joined our allies in signing international statements to restrict the involvement of Russia and Belarus in international sport and we are satisfied to see the measures that have been put in place for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Sport Canada has urged federally funded sport organizations to use tools at their disposal to exclude, from all competition in Canada, all individuals selected by Russia and Belarus to represent the Russian or Belarusian states.

Sport Canada has established criteria that restricts the participation of individuals from Russia and Belarus in events that are hosted in Canada, for which it provides federal funding.

The Government of Canada is a signatory to four international statements, each signed by more than thirty nations, calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and international federations to maintain stringent restrictions on the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus as neutral athletes in international competition, including the 2024 Games.

On March 28, 2023, the IOC released a set of recommendations for international sport federations and event organizers to allow participants from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sport competitions as neutral athletes.

In September 2023, the International Paralympic Committee members (IPC) voted to partially suspend the National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) of Russia and Belarus, due to their inability to fulfil membership obligations under the 2011 and 2022 IPC Constitutions.

The decision by IPC members means that the NPCs lose their membership rights, but Russian and Belarussian athletes can compete as individual and neutral athletes at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

On December 8, 2023, the Executive Board of the IOC decided that Individual Neutral Athletes that have qualified through International Federation qualification processes on the field of play are eligible to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

This decision means that Russian and Belarussian athletes that have qualified to compete at the Games may do so as Individual Neutral Athletes, if they meet certain eligibility criteria established by the IOC.

On March 6, 2024, the IPC published their eligibility criteria that Russian and Belarusian athletes and support personnel must meet in order to participate as neutral participants at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

The strict criteria set by the IPC include conditions that neutral athletes will compete as individuals in neutral uniforms under a Neutral Paralympic Athlete flag and will not feature on the medals table or march in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

On March 18, 2024, the IOC announced that, in addition to their established criteria for allowing the participation of neutral athletes, athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to participate in the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony.

After the release of the strict criteria for participation established by the IOC and the IPC, the collective of governments that had signed previous public statements determined that acceptable standards will be enforced and no further joint statements are necessary.

The IOC invited 36 Russian and 24 Belarusian athletes to participate in Paris 2024 under neutral banner. Only 15 Russians and 17 Belarusians accepted the invitations. For Tokyo 2020, the Russian Olympic Committee sent 335 athletes and Belarus sent 101.

International sport federations have each established their own guidelines and approaches for allowing the participation of individuals from Russia and Belarus in their events. The majority initially banned athletes from those countries but have recently begun to follow IOC guidelines on allowing their participation.

Some high-profile federations, such as World Athletics, have maintained their bans, prohibiting athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in their events to qualify for the 2024 Games.

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