Paris 2024: IOC approves change of nationality for seven athletes

At its meeting on Tuesday, the Executive Board of the IOC approved the requests of seven athletes to change their Olympic nationality in order to be eligible to take part in the next Olympic Summer Games. The decision was taken on the basis of Article 41 of the Olympic Charter.

The seven applications under consideration by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been approved. The decision was taken last Tuesday at the IOC Executive Board meeting in Lausanne. The decision is based on Article 41 of the Olympic Charter.

Seven changes to sports nationality for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games approved by the IOC Executive Board. The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved today, on the first day of its meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, seven requests for athletes to change their sporting nationality according to Article 41 of the Olympic Charter.

All seven changes are related to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games:

Chahrazed Ayachi – Wrestling – from France to Tunisia

Anastasiia Kirpichnikova – Swimming – from Russia to France

Aleksandr Komarov – Wrestling – from Russia to Serbia

Rachel Neylan – Cycling – from Australia to Ireland

Lisa Pou – Swimming – from France to Monaco

Levenia Sim – Swimming – from the USA to Singapore

Ingrid Simão Souto Maior – Gymnastics – from Brazil to Portugal

The swimmer Anastasiia Kirpichnikova has changed her nationality from Russian to French. GETTY IMAGES

All of them have managed to complete the process in time for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They will be able to compete under their new status. All the federations, and of course the IOC, have tightened up the requirements for changing nationality. This is to ensure a fair strategy. In the past, the criteria were more lenient and some athletes began the process of acquiring dual nationality to increase their chances of participating in the Olympic Games or simply to achieve greater success in another country.

Today, it is much more difficult to obtain this change of nationality, which has to be perfectly accredited. The history of sport is full of specific cases. Some of them involve famous athletes who, once they had become famous, changed their nationality in order to achieve other goals.

Two of the most notorious cases are those of Marlene Ottey and Wilson Kipketer. Both had great careers in their home countries, the United States and Kenya. At the end of their careers, they decided to move to Slovenia and Denmark respectively. In this case, there was no particular reason. In Kipketer's case, it was a fondness for Denmark, where he had lived and adapted. Today, the criteria are much stricter.