Russian and Belarusian runners residing in their countries will not be allowed to participate in the prestigious Boston Marathon, scheduled for the middle of this month, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, organizers announced.

The Boston Athletic Association, which organized the event, said Wednesday that Russian and Belarusian runners who live in their countries will not participate in the race scheduled for April 18.

However, runners who do not live in either of these countries will be allowed to participate but not under their country's flag.

Like so many people around the world, we are horrified and outraged by what we saw and got off the coverage in Ukraine," said Foundation CEO Tom Grealke.

"We believe that running is a global sport, and in light of this, we must do everything we can to show our support for the people of Ukraine."

Organizers did not specify the number of Russians and Belarusians who applied to participate in this year's race.

The Boston Marathon returns to its traditional date in April, after it was canceled in 2020 due to the Corona virus pandemic, and it was moved last year to October, and the number of participants was reduced to 20,000.

In the last race before the pandemic in 2019, 59 runners from Russia and Belarus took part in the race, which included more than 30,000 participants.

Russian sport is still isolated after sanctions inflicted on it by many international federations, most notably the International and European Football Associations, which deprived its teams and clubs of competition, thus eliminating the hopes of its men's team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

rsw / rm / ah