Belarusian horseback riders to miss 2024 Olympics

December 22, Pozirk. The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) defined conditions to re-admit Belarusian and Russian athletes to its competitions, it said in a statement.

Athletes, support staff, horse owners and officials should demonstrate that they do not actively support Russia’s war on Ukraine and have no contracts with Russian and Belarusian security agencies.

The FEI defined support as any form of “verbal, non-verbal or written expression,” including public statements, social media posts, participation in pro-war events or displaying pro-war symbols.

Athletes and support staff will be only allowed to participate in individual FEI competitions and will be still banned from team events, the statement stressed.

Athletes competing as neutrals will not be able to represent their countries or use flags, emblems, anthems and other symbols at FEI venues.

Belarusian and Russian athletes will miss the 2024 Paris Olympics because they have not participated in FEI competitions since March 2022 and failed to qualify for the Olympics this year.

On December 8, the International Olympic Committee announced that it will allow individual neutral athletes from Belarus and Russia to participate in the Olympics. No Russian or Belarusian officials will be invited to or accredited, it noted.

Athletes who “actively support” the Russian war against Ukraine will not be eligible, just as athletes and support personnel who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies.

Belarus was banned from nearly all international competitions after Minsk allowed Russian troops to invade Ukraine from the country’s territory in February 2022.