By Victor Kanayo
Russia will field only 16 athletes at the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games scheduled for Paris, France, between July 26 and August 11.
This was disclosed by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
However, the ROC has revealed that already, up to 245 athletes who failed to meet the criteria allowing them to compete at the Paris Games this month will get compensation, RIA state news agency reports.
The new agency quoted Russian Olympic Committee general director Vladimir Sengleyev as saying, “We have paid compensation to 245 athletes. These are those athletes who initially did not get the right to compete in international competitions and those who did not receive neutral status.”
Athletes from Russia and Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, are barred from the Games unless they compete as neutrals without flags, anthems and emblems.
Russian and Belarusian athletes have also had to undergo an additional vetting process to ensure they do not support Russia’s war and have no connection to its military – which Moscow says amounts to a “conspiracy” to exclude its athletes.
RIA did not specify which other sports people were compensated and how much money they received.
The list of Russian athletes who will head to Paris has thinned to just over a dozen, as several sports federation heads have said their squads will not take part under what they see as humiliating restrictions.
Only 16 Russian athletes are scheduled to appear in the Games, which run from July 26 to August 11, compared to 335 athletes at the last Summer Games in Tokyo in 2021.
