Russia’s military attacks on Ukraine continue to have negative consequences for Russian sport. To the sanctions imposed by several of International Federations, such as FIFA, in the last hours was added the decision of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which decided to prohibit the participation of Russian and Belarusian paraathletes in the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, which will begin this Friday.
This decision by the IPC comes after the authorities had in principle determined that Russians and Belarusians would participate in the winter Olympic event under a neutral flag. Why did you change your position? In the wake of the threat from other countries, who warned that they would not participate if the presence of Russia and Belarus were maintained.” At the IPC we firmly believe that sport and politics should not be mixed. However, through no fault of their own, war has come to these Games and, behind the scenes, many governments are influencing our cherished event,” Said Andrew Parsons, President of the IPC, in an official statement.
The IPC Governing Board has decided to refuse the athlete entries from the RPC and NPC Belarus for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. https://t.co/8rE0szi8YE — Paralympic Games (@Paralympics)
March 3, 2022
He explained: “In the last 12 hours, an overwhelming number of members have contacted us and been very open, for which I am grateful. We have been told that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is likely to have serious consequences for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. Several CPNs (National Paralympic Committees), some of which have been contacted by their governments, teams and athletes, are threatening not to compete.” In that regard, the IPC lamented the consequences that Russian and Belarusian paraathletes must pay for the decisions of their governments. “To para athletes in the affected countries, we are very sorry that they are affected by the decisions their governments made last week in breaching the Olympic Truce. You are victims of the actions of your governments,” the statement concluded. The Paralympic Winter Games will get underway this Friday with the participation of about 700 athletes in 6 different disciplines, and will run until Sunday, March 13.
