A little over three weeks before the opening of the Paris 2024 Games (July 26 to August 11), the delegation of neutral athletes is taking shape. The IOC published at the beginning of the week a new revised version of the list of Russian and Belarusian athletes invited to participate in competitions under the guise of neutrality. The number of refusals now stands at 12. Among them, tennis players Andrey Rublev, gold medalist in double at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Darya Kasatkina and Anna Kalinskaya. Two other players selected by the IOC, Karen Khachanov, silver medalist in single at Tokyo 2020, and Liudmila Samsonova, had already declined the IOC invitation. On the other hand, it seems certain that Daniil Medvedev (photo above), winner of the US Open in 2021, and Ekaterina Aleksandrova, 22nd player in the world, will be present in Paris. They accepted the conditions of neutrality demanded by the IOC. Same thing for Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, title holder at the Australian Open, also selected by the IOC, has not yet given her response.
