What is AIN? How Russians Are Competing in the Olympics

AAthletes from around the world are competing at the Paris Summer Olympics in Paris, which officially kicked off with the opening ceremony on Friday. But while most athletes will compete under their country’s name, those from Russia and Belarus will compete a little differently – as neutral individual athletes, or “AINs.”

The change comes as the International Olympic Committee takes the decision to ban Russia and Belarus from the 2024 Games in connection with the war in Ukraine. In Paris, any athletes from these countries wishing to participate in these games must do so as neutral individual athletes.

The war in Ukraine is not the only turbulent backdrop to this year’s Summer Olympics; athletes will also compete amid an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which continues to claim lives every day. Although the International Olympic Committee public commitment to remain apoliticalthis year’s summer games in Paris are “the most geopolitically charged Olympics we’ve seen in decades,” Jules Boykoff, a former Olympian turned political science professor at Pacific University, tells TIME.

Here’s what you should know about how athletes from Russia and Belarus are competing at this year’s Paris Summer Olympics.

Why were Russia and Belarus banned from the Paris Olympics?

Russia and Belarus were initially sanctioned by the IOC in February 2022, immediately after the start of the invasion of Ukraine. Because the invasion occurred shortly after the end of the Winter Olympics, the IOC said Russia’s invasion violated the Olympic Truce, an agreement for nations not to attack each other during the period from one week before the Olympics to one week . after the end of the Paralympic Games. Belarus was also accused of violating the Olympic truce by allowing Russia to use its territory for military purposes.

The Russian Olympic Committee was officially suspended in October 2023 after declaring that Ukrainian sports organizations in the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions were under its authority. The IOC stated that this was a violation of the Olympic Charter, which specifies that these regions are under the jurisdiction of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

What are AINs?

AIN stands for the French phrase “Athlete Individuel Neutre”, which means “Neutral Individual Athlete” in English. This category will allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the Olympic Games as long as they do not outwardly express support for the war in Ukraine or perform work for any of the Russian national security agencies. Athletes will compete under a neutral flag and if they win a medal, a neutral athlete’s song will be played instead of their country’s national anthem.

Boykoff says IOC officials felt it was important to create a possible path for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, as being banned from the games could be devastating for individual athletes and detrimental to their livelihoods. “For many sports, the Olympics are a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a name for themselves,” says Boykoff. “That’s why the International Olympic Committee chose to create this path, complicated as it may be.”

However, not all Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to compete in this way. World Athletics, which is the international governing body for athletics competitions, made the decision to ban Russia and Belarus from competing in their competitions, thus making it impossible for Russian and Belarusian track and field athletes to compete in the Olympic Games.

How can the IOC ban Russia if it is apolitical?

The IOC says which is not political, but experts TIME spoke to said his actions indicate otherwise. “The IOC, to some extent, operates in a fantasy land,” says Professor John Hoberman, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who writes about the history and culture of sport. Hoberman says the Olympics have had serious political dimensions since the 1936 Munich games, held in Nazi Germany.

Hoberman says Russia’s situation was also worsened by the doping scandal during the 2014 Sochi Olympics, during which it was discovered that Russia systematically falsified drug tests for its athletes at the Games. “This was a humiliation from the IOC. It was a humiliation for the World Anti-Doping Agency, which is affiliated with the IOC,” says Hoberman. Following the scandal, the IOC banned Russia from competing under its own name and flag, and Russian athletes competed under the name “Russian Olympic Committee” (ROC) during the Tokyo and Beijing Olympic Games.

Which Russian and Belarusian athletes accepted or declined AIN’s invitations to the Paris Olympics?

A total of 32 athletes accepted their invitations to compete as neutral individual athletes:

Another 28 athletes received invitations to compete as neutral individual athletes, but chose to decline the offer: