Who is benefitting from the absence of almost all Russian athletes in Paris? At the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the 333 athletes in the Russian delegation won 71 medals, including 20 golds, finishing fifth in the ranking of nations. Three years later, only 15 Russians – and 17 Belarusians – have been authorized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete, under strict conditions of neutrality, at the Paris Games. The country’s best talents are not among them. Naturally, hopes of medals are low for Moscow, which has been crying “discrimination” for months.

After nine days of competition, only two Russian “individual neutral athletes” have reached a podium. Tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, on Sunday, August 4, took silver, in doubles. Belarusian gymnasts Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya and Ivan Litvinovich took silver and gold respectively on August 2 in trampoline. None of them appear on the medal ranking, in accordance with the IOC’s wishes.

However, it’s difficult to say exactly which country has benefited most from the ban on Russians. The schedules of events differ between the two editions of the Olympic Games. The taekwondo tournament, for example, took place during the first week in Tokyo, but will not start until the second week in Paris. What’s more, there’s no way to know whether an athlete who took gold in Japan would have defended the title three years later if they had been able to take part in the Olympic competitions.

But by going back one by one to the gold medals – which is what counts in the ranking of nations – already awarded at the Paris 2024 Olympics, it’s possible to determine which delegation benefited from this redistribution. Simply put, which countries have claimed the Olympic titles left vacant by the Russians?

Two wins for Ukraine

By the evening of August 4, the fencing and swimming tournaments had been completed, as had 10 of the 14 artistic gymnastics events and 13 of the 15 shooting events. These are four of Russia’s major sporting strongholds, which put together brought them nine Olympic titles in Tokyo in 2021.

In fencing, the three titles won by Russia in Japan in women’s saber (individual and team) and women’s foil (team) went respectively to France, Ukraine – led by Olga Kharlan, who refused to salute her Russian rival at the 2023 World Championships – and the United States.

In swimming, Evgeny Rylov, who took gold in the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke in Japan, was replaced on the podium three years later by Italy’s Thomas Ceccon and Hungary’s Hubert Kos.

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