What the IOC ruling means

What are neutral athletes?

Russian athletes won’t be allowed to compete in Pyeongchang under their own flag. But the IOC created a path for some to compete as neutral athletes. Those athletes will be designated as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” and wear a uniform with that designation. They will compete under the Olympic flag, and the Olympic anthem will play at any ceremony.

What criteria must athletes meet to compete?

Russian athletes must be cleared by the Independent Testing Authority, which was recently established. It’s unclear when that panel will issue decisions on who is eligible to compete, but the IOC criteria require that those athletes in consideration must have undergone all pre-Games testing recommended by a task force advising anti-doping efforts before Pyeongchang. The criteria also include that athletes must not have been disqualified or declared ineligible for a previous anti-doping rule violation, a provision that seems unlikely to withstand appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The IOC attempted to enforce the same criteria before Rio, but a CAS panel struck it down as inconsistent with a prior ruling.

What is Russia’s reaction?

Russian officials had threatened to boycott the Games if faced with a ban.

Alexander Zhukov, president of the Russian Olympic committee, told the Associated Press it needs time to consider the IOC’s decision.

He praised the IOC’s decision to use the term “Olympic Athlete from Russia” for those athletes who qualify under the set criteria.

“They’ll be called Russian athletes and not some kind of neutrals … that’s very important,” he said.