as 2026 Winter Olympics shootAt least a dozen athletes will represent AIN.
The three-letter acronym is not an abbreviation of the country’s representation; its athletes are tied to Russia, where its national flag will not be present due to a series of doping scandals and the ongoing situation in Russia. war in Ukraine.
AIN athletes will also include competitors from Belarus, which was banned as a country Paris 2024 for his participation in the war.
What does AIN mean?
Neutral Individual Athletes,” meaning “Neutral Individual Athletes”. French is one of the two official languages of the Olympic Games, along with English.
Athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports who have qualified for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games will compete under the AIN, which has a teal flag and anthem. It’s an anthem melody without lyrics.
AIN was introduced for the first time Before the 2024 Paris Olympics As a substitute for the Russian Olympic Committee.
International Olympic Committee 
Why isn’t Russia competing as an ROC in the 2026 Winter Olympics?
International Olympic Committee ROC discontinued in October 2023a month later Russia invaded Ukraine.
The suspension was a result of the ROC’s decision to bring regional sports organizations under the authority of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, it says. IOC.
The ROC’s action “was a violation of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian NOC, as recognized by the IOC in accordance with the Olympic Charter,” the IOC said.
Why did Russia have to start competing as an ROC in the Olympics?
Russian athletes competed under the ROC at the COVID-postponed Tokyo 2020 Summer Games after Russia was sanctioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
WADA voted in 2019 to exclude Russia of the next Olympic cycle—and even barred Russian government officials from major events—but allowed athletes with Russian passports to compete if they could prove they were not part of what WADA believed to be a state-sponsored doping system.
Russia also lost the right to host or even bid for the tournaments for four years.
Then the Court of Arbitration for Sport He reduced the WADA ban Fast forward two years in Russia and Russian athletes last competed under the ROC at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to end the ban.
What happened to the ROC ice skating doping scandal at the 2022 Olympics?
In Beijing 2022, the ROC was then examined Kamil ValievThe 15-year-old superstar figure skater tested positive for a heart medication prohibited From a sample taken before the Winter Games.
The positive result for the metabolic agent trimetazidine came after Valieva helped ROC win gold in the figure skating team in the United States and Japan. It delayed the medal ceremony and raised concerns over Russia’s history with doping.
An Olympic official said there was a mix-up with Valieva’s grandfather’s heart medication.
Valieva, who was the favorite to win the women’s singles event, was temporarily suspended; it was later has given permission to participate in a single free skating program. He finished fourth and was seen breaking down in tears after the competition. Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova of her ROC team took gold and silver.
The International Skating Union later stripped the ROC of the team gold.
At Milan Cortinathere are two quota places, one male and one female, in figure skating for AINs with Russian passports, who are not eligible to participate in team events. ISU rules.
Has any other country been banned from participating in the Olympics?
Over the decades, multiple countries have been banned from competing in the Olympic Games by the IOC.
North Korea They were suspended from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics after that He left at the Summer Olympics in Tokyociting the need to protect athletes from the “global public health crisis caused by COVID-19”.
In 2015, the IOC said it had canceled it Kuwait Olympic Committee “To protect the Kuwaiti Olympic Movement from undue government interference.” Kuwaiti athletes were able to participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics as “Independent Olympic Athletes”, and the suspension was lifted in 2019.
The IOC has suspended and suspended many other countries for political interference or non-compliance with the Olympic Charter, among others. Brazil, India and Iraq.