AP Photo/Lewis Joly
FIBA announced Tuesday that Russia has been barred from qualifying for the men’s Olympic basketball tournament in Paris in 2024, per the Associated Press.
This was an expected decision given that the organization announced on March 1, 2022, that Russia would not be allowed to participate in FIBA basketball competitions until further notice because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Bulgaria will be taking Russia’s place in qualification tournaments as the next-highest-ranked team in Europe, per FIBA.
The Russian women’s team already could not attempt qualification for the Olympics because it did not partake in World Cup and EuroBasket qualification last year as part of FIBA’s suspension.
The International Olympic Committee has recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes be allowed to participate as neutrals while the national teams remain banned.
Russian athletes were not allowed to participate under their team’s national banner at the 2020 Summer Olympics or the 2022 Winter Olympics because the World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from international sport for four years in Dec. 2019 for its state-run doping program.
The Paris Olympics will be the first Games post-ban. They are scheduled to take place from July 26 – August 11, 2024.
