Recommendations were made by the IOC Executive Board in March for athletes from the two countries to return to international competition as neutrals, as long as they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with the military.

But the IOC did not make a decision on the involvement of Russian and Belarusian competitors for Paris 2024, with its President Thomas Bach insisting it was "not appropriate" to offer a timeline at that stage.

There are 400 days to go until the Olympics are set to open in the French capital.

The IOC Executive Board has been meeting in Swiss city Lausanne for the past two days where Paris 2024 was high on the agenda, but the organisation’s spokesperson Mark Adams insisted that it was in no rush to make a call on Russia and Belarus for the Games.

"We said that we will take a decision when the time is right and I think that’s the right thing to do to see how things are developing," said Adams.

"I can’t give a timeline…but we will take that decision when the time is fit and there still remains plenty of time for that decision to be taken."

Russian and Belarusian athletes had been largely frozen out of sport following the IOC’s recommendations for an outright ban in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The IOC opened the door for them to return to the global sporting stage when recommending in March that they should compete again under strict conditions of neutrality.

International Federations (IF) have been divided in their response to the IOC’s recommendations with several opting to keep their bans in place.

Archery, canoeing, cycling, fencing, golf, judo, modern pentathlon, shooting, skateboarding, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, weightlifting and wrestling have all adhered to those recommendations, but athletics, badminton, equestrian, sport climbing and surfing have refused to ease their stance.

Bach has claimed that "naysayers" are being proven wrong over the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals.

The German official praised IFs or "successfully" delivering events featuring athletes from Russia and Belarus which, he claimed, demonstrated that "it can be done".

Adams said he joined Bach in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku when it staged the World Taekwondo Championships where Russian and Belarusian fighters competed under a neutral banner.

"I was just with the President in Baku where we saw independent neutral athletes take part and it worked very well and a lot of the athletes and coaches we spoke to were content with that,” said Adams.

"I believe there were similar circumstances in fencing as well.

"Each federation will be different to be honest.

"The federations are independent and can make their own minds up.

"We would hope that they would follow our guidelines, many are starting to do so and there are plans for other sports as well.

"I think rowing as well is moving towards some inclusion.

"I think it needs to be flexible because it is a moving situation."

Ukraine's Government has been angered by its stance and vowed to boycott any Paris 2024 Olympics qualifiers where Russian and Belarusian athletes are present.

Bach has repeatedly argued that the IOC had found "some middle ground" after saying that he had been accused by Russia of being "agents of the United States" and by Ukraine of siding with Moscow.

He has also previously blasted European Governments opposed to the IOC's stance as "deplorable".