The politics behind Olympic bans

The Olympic Games aim to bring nations together to compete in the spirit of friendship, but sometimes countries get banned from this show of goodwill. The 2024 Paris Olympics features a notable case, with Russia having faced an IOC ban since 2022, when Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, countries that engage in similarly egregious behavior, such as North Korea, have been invited and even to some extent celebrated at the Olympics. So, how does the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decide which countries get banned and which are allowed to compete?

First, it is exceedingly rare for countries to get banned except in cases where they violate Olympic rules. For example, North Korea was banned from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but not because of its human rights record. Rather, the IOC was upset at Pyongyang for unilaterally withdrawing from...