Russian athletes won’t be barred from the Paris Olympics despite their country’s suspension

MUMBAI, India (AP) — The IOC says Russian athletes can be directly invited to next year’s Paris Games despite the suspension of their country’s Olympic committee. International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach commented on the issue a day after the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended for violating the territorial integrity of its Ukrainian counterpart by unilaterally adding sports councils in four occupied regions as members. Isolating Russian Olympic officials won’t affect the process of evaluating individuals to compete in Paris as neutral athletes. Bach says “these will be direct invitations which we will manage.”