Flags from these three countries are banned from Olympic events
When watching the Paris 2024 Olympics you’ll likely see a massive range of flags being waved in the crowd. However, there are a few that you are guaranteed not to see.
That’s because some flags have been banned from Olympic venues.
Three flags that have been explicitly banned from flying these Games, according to an image shared by Reddit user Namewee_NFT: Russia, Belarus, and Taiwan.
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Fans that attempt to bring these flags to different Olympic events will find them seized or potentially rejected entry.
Russia and Belarus are both banned from this year’s Olympics. No athletes are competing under either flag due to both nations’ involvement in the war in Ukraine. Russian athletes have not competed under their flag at the Olympics since 2016, although the penalty was originally for a state-sponsored doping scheme.
Some athletes from Russia and Belarus are competing under the code AIN, which stands for “athlètes individuels neutres,” or “neutral individual athletes” when translated to English. These athletes had to go through an interview process and are not allowed to use flags, sing their national anthem, or represent their country in other ways.
Taiwanese athletes have competed under the name Chinese Taipei at the Olympics ever since 1984. There is a different flag affiliated with Chinese Taipei, which is flown at the Games.
This is because of the political tension between China and Taiwan, the latter of which China doesn’t recognize as a sovereign state. Taiwan has official diplomatic relations with just 11 of the 193 countries in the United Nations because of pressure from China.
“Only flags of countries and territories participating in the Games are allowed,” the official Paris 2024 website reads.
This means that fans are not technically allowed to fly flags for specific regions, such as various states around the world, like Quebec or Basque Country in Spain.
Palestine is competing at the Paris Olympics and is recognized by more than 75% of countries in the United Nations. The Palestinian flag is allowed to be flown in Paris.
While all regional flags or any flags that don’t represent official nations competing at Paris are banned, Russia, Belarus, and Taiwan have been explicitly banned as they are more politically relevant.