Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said Ukraine is ready to boycott the Olympic Games in Paris if Russia and Belarus are allowed to take part in the competition.
IIRC, Russia, at least, has had to participate under a neutral flag in recent games due to their ongoing doping scandals anyway. Other than Belarus also competing under a neutral flag, what would substantially change?
it means you compete as an independent, neutral entity and not under your country’s flag so your country gets zero recognition for any achievements, only the individuals.
If you go back to the original Olympic Games in ancient Greece, it would be considered totally normal for countries to be competing peaceably at the Games one week, and slaughtering each other the next week. Funny how the ancient Greeks were more sophisticated, in a sense, than we are in the modern world.