Neutral athletes allowed to attend closing ceremony

Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) will be allowed to attend the closing ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, having not been present at the opening event.

Athletes whose countries are barred from competing at the Games - such as Russia and Belarus, because of the invasion of Ukraine - have appeared at the 2026 Olympics as neutrals.

They are barred from wearing national colours or displaying their nation's flag, and do not appear on the official medal table.

And they were not represented in the parade of nations either at the opening ceremony in Milan's San Siro stadium, or at simultaneous events in Cortina and Livigno.

However, athletes are traditionally not separated by nations at the closing ceremony and will instead enter the stadium in Verona as a group - meaning AIN competitors can attend.

At Milan-Cortina, only one AIN has won a medal - Nikita Filippov, who claimed silver in the men's ski mountaineering.

No neutral athlete has won an event, which would have led to the Olympic anthem being played and Olympic flag being raised rather than any national representation.

The most likely AIN representative to win gold was Russian women's figure skating champion Adeliia Petrosian, however the 18-year-old finished sixth after falling during her free skate.

Currently, there are no official plans for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to lift its ban on Russian or Belarusian athletes competing under their national flag at future Games.

However, some Russians and Belarusians will be allowed to compete for their countries at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics next month after a decision by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

The IPC confirmed to BBC Sport that 10 athletes have been awarded bipartite commission invitations to compete in Para-alpine skiing, Para-cross country skiing and Para-snowboarding.

As a result, Ukraine's Paralympic athletes and officials have said they will boycott the opening ceremony on 6 March.

IOC president Kirsty Coventry refused to comment on the IPC's decision at a news conference in Milan on Friday.

"The IPC are completely separate, they are not part of our organisation," she said. "We are focusing on the final few days of the Games."