Is Russia competing at the Olympics? Here’s what AIN stands for – NBC Chicago

You won’t see Russia on the 2024 Olympics, and you will not see them on the Opening Ceremony, however Russian athletes will probably be competing — they will simply be doing so a distinct identify: AIN.

So why the change and what does AIN stand for?

Russia has been compelled to compete below varied names on the Olympics since 2016, the 12 months a number of Russian athletes had been discovered to concerned in a years-long, state-sponsored doping scheme that noticed them win a group of medals.

The Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended Russia in 2017, however a number of Russian athletes who weren’t concerned within the scheme received an enchantment to compete. These athletes had been required accomplish that below completely different names.

On the 2018 Winter Olympics, Russian athletes who handed drug assessments competed below the “Olympic Athletes from Russia,” or OAR, delegation.

Throughout the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Russian athletes competed below the “Russian Olympic Committee,” or ROC, delegation.

This 12 months, nonetheless, they will have a completely completely different identify.

This is what to know:

What does AIN stand for?

Russia won’t compete as ROC in Paris. As a substitute, Russian athletes will fall below the Particular person Impartial Athletes delegation, or AIN (IOC nation code after the French identify Athlètes Individuels Neutres).

Why did Russia change its identify from ROC?

The ROC identify really got here to be on the Tokyo Olympics since Russia was banned by the World Anti-Doping Company in 2019 for its state-sponsored doping program.

Russian athletes can compete in Paris, however they should be permitted to take action.

The identical applies to Belarusian rivals. As of June 15, there have been a mixed 25 Russian and Belarusian athletes who had been permitted to compete in impartial occasions.

The athletes permitted to compete can’t use the Russian flag or nationwide anthem all through the Olympics.

Russian and Belarusian athletes are additionally barred from taking part within the Paris Opening Ceremony.

What number of Russian athletes will probably be on the 2024 Olympics?

Russian athletes had been capped at a most of 55, and Belarusian had been capped at 28 — although that is not essentially

“The utmost quantity, which is unlikely to be reached, could be 55 and 28 respectively,” the IOC informed CNN.

For comparability’s sake, Russia had 330 athletes in Tokyo, whereas Belarus had 104.