If first group of approved ‘neutral’ athletes is any indication, don’t expect much from Russia and Belarus at Paris Olympics

Any athlete who “actively supports” the war against Ukraine will be banned and others were kept out of qualifying events.

“Misunderstanding and indignation,” railed the Belarus Olympic committee, which so far has 11 green-lighted competitors in four sports. The question now is how many of the approved athletes will end up at the Games.

“We’ll decide,” said Mamiashvili.

Not surprisingly the US Olympic swimming trials inside mammoth Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts, set an attendance record for an indoor meet on opening night with 20,689 spectators. That’s nearly a third more than the number that jammed Omaha’s CHI Health Center in 2021. With more than 1,000 athletes having qualified in their quest for 52 spots, that makes for a substantial number of friends and family in the stands . . . The biggest spotlight at the US Olympic track and field trials, which begin this weekend in Eugene, Ore., will shine on world champion sprinters Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson. Lyles, who’s favored in both the 100 and 200, would be the first American man to sweep those events at the Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984. And Richardson, who was kept home from Tokyo last time for a cannabis positive after winning the trials, again is the choice in the 100 and also should make the team in the 200, along with Gabby Thomas of Florence, Mass. . . . The US women’s soccer team got a huge break when England (representing Great Britain), Sweden, and the Netherlands all failed to qualify for the 12-team field at the Games. The English were the runners-up at last year’s World Cup. The Swedes, who bounced the Americans in the second round, won the bronze medal. And the Dutch, who drew with the United States, won their group. Not that the Americans have an easy route. They’ll face Australia, which tied them at the 2020 Olympics and lost the bronze-medal match to them by a goal, and the Germans, who won the gold in Rio in 2016 and have made the podium at four of the last six Games. The US men, who’ll be competing for the first time since 2008, will meet host France in their opener, followed by New Zealand and Guinea.

The United States is the only country in the world with the luxury of leaving Caitlin Clark off its Olympic women’s basketball team. The amount of gilded neckwear on the roster is extraordinary — all 12 players have won a Games gold (Diana Taurasi has five) or World Cup title. Experience atop a global podium clearly mattered to the selectors, and while Clark earned a pair of under-19 golds, she’d never played on a senior team. The Americans, who’ll be shooting for their eighth straight crown in Paris, have an unchallenging qualifying group in Belgium, Japan, and Germany. The men, who’ll be chasing their fifth title in a row, have a significant opponent in Serbia, the Cup silver medalist, but easier dates with South Sudan and Puerto Rico . . . Faced with the possibility of just two Olympic entries, the US men’s rowers had a terrific outing at last month’s final qualifying regatta in Switzerland, earning tickets in three of five events and missing out by a hair in the quadruple sculls. Northeastern grad Jacob Plihal placed second in the single, beating Norway’s Kjetil Borch, a two-time Games medalist. Ben Davison and Sorin Koszyk won the double and the eight, with Harvard alums Pieter Quinton, Clark Dean, and Christian Tabash, and Dover, Mass., resident Henry Hollingsworth aboard, also prevailed. The women’s quad made it, too, giving the American females a full slate . . . Bill May’s bid to become the first man to compete in Olympic artistic swimming ended when he was left off the US team for Paris. “This should have been a landmark moment for the sport,” said World Aquatics. But the 45-year-old May, who was on the 12-member team that this year earned a spot at the Games for the first time since 2008, wasn’t among the top eight in the technical and free competitions at the world championships and was odd man out for the smaller Games roster.

No surprises on Kenya’s men’s marathon team for the Games — Eliud Kipchoge, Benson Kipruto, and Alexander Munyao. Kipchoge will be chasing an unprecedented third Olympic title. Kipruto, the 2021 Boston victor, since has claimed majors in Chicago and Tokyo. And Munyao won in London in April, beating Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele. While defending Games champion Peres Jepchirchir and Boston and New York titlist Hellen Obiri were obvious choices for the women’s squad, the selectors chose résumé over recent results by taking Brigid Kosgei, the former world record-holder and Olympic silver medalist. Boston champ Sisay Lemma headlines the Ethiopian squad . . . Flavor Flav, the legendary rapper, will be sponsoring the US women’s water polo team as it chases an unprecedented fourth consecutive title in Paris. “You ain’t gonna see me in the water,” said Flav, who says he’ll be the squad’s “hype man” at the Games. “But you’re gonna see me around the water.”

Material from Olympic committees, sports federations, interviews, and wire services was used in this report.

John Powers can be reached at [email protected].