The Games, which start this Wednesday, will also feature Russian and Belarusian athletes, similar to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. However, they will not be able to represent their flag or anthem due to the suspension imposed on them as a result of the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

This time around, the number of athletes will be higher than at the Games that ended in the French capital on Sunday 11 August. In fact, there will be three times as many participants as at the other sporting event, with a total of 96 para-athletes taking part in the seventeenth Paralympic Games in history.

A total of 88 Russians and 8 Belarusians will be competing as neutrals, according to IPC spokesman Craig Spence, who spoke at a press conference.

Paralympic athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus must compete under a neutral flag after being largely excluded from global sport following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia was already unable to compete under its own name at Tokyo 2020 because the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) was implicated in a state-sponsored doping programme, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The IPC, together with the world's sports federations, has overseen their gradual return to the Paralympic Games as neutral participants under strict conditions.

In order to be invited to compete, those who achieved good enough results to qualify had to undergo a double-checking process.

An external agency hired by the IPC was tasked with verifying that potential competitors did not actively support the war in Ukraine or have any links to their countries' military.

A similar process was used by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Olympic Games this summer, where 32 neutral athletes from both countries competed.

One notable difference between the Paralympics and the Olympics is the decision by World Para Athletics to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the Para Athletics events, which was not the case for their compatriots at the Olympics as they were not allowed to qualify in the track events.

At the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, they will be known as Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPAs) and will compete in IPC-approved uniforms with no national colours, flags, country names, emblems, symbols or national designations.

Neutral Athletes will compete under a white flag with the word NPA in black letters. The use of this flag will be limited to television and sports presentations and during medal ceremonies.

Medals won by neutral athletes will not be counted in the medal tally for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and the Paralympic anthem will be played when a neutral athlete wins a gold medal.

As the athletes will be competing individually and neutrally, they will not march in the Opening Ceremony on 28 August, nor will they have a flag bearer at the Closing Ceremony on 8 September.