# Individual Neutral Athlete **Domain:** Sport governance / Political adjudication **Doc Type:** Developed Status Node **Maturity:** Developed **Collection:** [[collections/Gamification|Gamification Collection]] ## Definition An **Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN)** is an Olympic eligibility status used for qualifying athletes holding Russian or Belarusian passports at Paris 2024. Eligible athletes competed as individuals under a neutral designation rather than as representatives of a state or national Olympic committee. Teams were excluded; national flags, anthems, and official state representation were barred. ## Significance AIN makes the tournament's administrative layer visible. Athletic performance alone did not settle entry: a separate review evaluated compliance with neutrality conditions, including active support for the war in Ukraine and contractual links to military or national-security agencies. The status therefore separated bodily participation from political representation and created an adjudicated identity between full inclusion and national exclusion. AIN should not be generalized as proof that sport is politically neutral. It is a particular institutional response whose rules, evidence, consistency, and appealability must be assessed separately. ## Sources - IOC, [Strict eligibility conditions for individual neutral athletes at Paris 2024](https://olympics.com/ioc/news/strict-eligibility-conditions-in-place-as-ioc-eb-approves-individual-neutral-athletes-for-the-olympic-games-paris-2024) - IOC, [Individual Neutral Athletes at the Olympic Games Paris 2024](https://olympics.com/ioc/paris-2024-individual-neutral-athletes) ## Routes [[wiki/AIN Eligibility Review Panel|AIN Eligibility Review Panel]] · [[wiki/Russian Olympic Committee Suspension|Russian Olympic Committee Suspension]] · [[wiki/International Olympic Committee|International Olympic Committee]] · [[wiki/Olympic Truce Violation|Olympic Truce Violation]] · [[wiki/Tournament as a Symbolic Administration Layer|Tournament as a Symbolic Administration Layer]]