LAUSANNE, Switzerland - Olympic chiefs announced on March 19 that Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in this summer’s Paris Games under a neutral flag will not be able to take part in the opening ceremony.

Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) from either country “will not participate in the parade of delegations and teams during the opening ceremony since they are individual athletes”, IOC director James Macleod said, after an executive board meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.