Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from Paralympic games, following the invasion of Ukraine by Putin and supported by the Belarusian government.
According to reports, the ban comes following a board meeting of the International Paralympic Committee on Thursday morning, where members took the decision to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games, 24 hours after authorizing them to compete under a neutral banner.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is finally backtracking. Barely 24 hours after allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate under a neutral banner in the Beijing Games, which open on Friday, March 4, the institution has decided to reverse this decision.
A board of directors convened urgently on Thursday finally decided to close the door to these athletes, in response to the war in Ukraine. The IPC has just informed of this decision using a press release on its Twitter account.
“Several national Paralympic committees have threatened not to compete”
In it, Paralympic sports boss Andrew Parsons explains what led to this turnaround, pointing to the threat of several National Committees not to participate in the Games in the event of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
“In making our decision yesterday (Wednesday), we were looking at the long-term health and survival of the Paralympic Movement (…) However, what is clear is that the rapidly escalating situation now places us in a a unique and impossible position so close to the start of the Games (…) Over the past 12 hours, an overwhelming number of members have been in contact with us and have been very open, which I am grateful for. that if we do not reconsider our decision, it now risks having serious consequences for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. Several National Committees, some of which have been contacted by their governments, teams and athletes, are threatening not to compete.”
A situation in the athletes’ village “became untenable”
Andrew Parsons goes on to highlight the values of the Paralympic movement: “Ensuring the safety and security of athletes is of paramount importance to us and the situation in the athletes’ villages is worsening and has now become untenable.
We have a duty to to guarantee and supervise the organization of successful Paralympic Games, to ensure that the spirit of fair play prevails, that violence is prohibited, that there is no risk to the health of the athletes (… ) With this in mind, and in order to preserve the integrity of these Games and the safety of all participants, we have decided to refuse entries from Russian and Belarusian athletes.”
The Brazilian concludes by expressing his regret for the athletes of the affected countries, “victims of the actions of their governments which have violated the Olympic truce”. “I hope and pray that we can return to a situation where the discourse and the focus is entirely on the power of sport to transform the lives of people with disabilities and the best of humanity.”