No Anthem, No Flag as Belarusian Wins Paris Olympics Gold

AFP/APP

Paris: Ivan Litvinovich from Belarus on Friday became the first athlete competing as a neutral at the Paris Olympics to win gold — but it will not appear in the official medals table.

The 23-year-old retained his title in the men’s trampoline final, with China’s Wang Zisai and Yan Langyu taking silver and bronze.

Athletes from Russia and ally Belarus are competing under a neutral banner after being banned from world sport following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has overseen their gradual return under a neutral banner and under strict conditions. To be invited to the Games, “neutral individual athletes” who achieved good enough results to qualify had to pass a double check.

International sports federations and the IOC verified that the competitors did not actively support the war in Ukraine or have any links with their countries’ armies.

They were not allowed to take part in the opening ceremony or compete under their national flags. If athletes make the podium, their achievements are not recognised in the medals table. Only 15 Russians and 17 Belarusians accepted the invitation to compete under the neutral banner.

Instead of Litvinovich hearing the Belarusian national anthem after receiving his medal, a generic tune with no words commissioned by the IOC was played in its place. “What is there to say? It’s different. Our anthem is better and I hope we’ll be able to participate in competitions listening to it,” he told reporters.

Litvinovich declined to answer when asked about his presence at the Games, particularly in relation to the “support for his country” he had expressed previously. “I don’t want to answer these questions. You ask these questions to provoke me. I will only answer questions about sport,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya from Belarus won the first medal of any kind by a neutral athlete at the Paris Games, taking silver in the women’s trampoline.