Russia 2024 Olympics Ban. Belarus is a close ally of russia and supports its war in ukraine. Russian and belarusian athletes who have qualified for the paris 2024 olympics will be allowed to participate as neutrals, the international olympic committee has confirmed.

On july 20, the ioc announced that 18 athletes from belarus, which shares a border with russia and ukraine, will not be at the paris olympics. As paris gets closer to hosting its third olympics, al jazeera looks at the five biggest talking points.