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≡ MILAN CORTINA PARALYMPICS ≡
At the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, opened less than 10 days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had started, the International Paralympic Committee was forced to turn away Russian and Belarusian athletes entered in the event. At the time, IPC President Andrew Parsons (BRA) explained:
“In the last 12 hours an overwhelming number of members have been in touch with us and been very open, for which I am grateful. They have told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. Multiple NPCs, some of which have been contacted by their governments, teams and athletes, are threatening not to compete.
“Ensuring the safety and security of athletes is of paramount importance to us and the situation in the athlete villages is escalating and has now become untenable. First and foremost, we have a duty as part of the Paralympic mission, enshrined in the constitution, to guarantee and supervise the organisation of successful Paralympic Games, to ensure that in sport practiced within the Paralympic Movement the spirit of fair play prevails, violence is banned, the health risk of the athletes is managed and fundamental ethical principles are upheld.
“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 the athlete entries from [Russian Paralympic Committee] and NPC Belarus.
“To the Para athletes from the impacted countries, we are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic Truce. You are victims of your governments’ actions.”
Russia, of course, is still in Ukraine, four years later and boycott talk – at least on the ceremonial level – has started again.
Parsons spoke Monday at a news conference in Milan and voiced his concern:
“We have not received any official communication about any boycott. What we’ve heard, we heard from the media.
“What I am afraid of is that sometimes this situation can be used to politicise sports. I’ll give you an example. We have National Paralympic Committees who are saying to the media, and I can quote one, Czechia. They mentioned a couple of days ago that they are boycotting the Opening Ceremony. In December, during their Pre-Delegation Registration Meeting, they had already informed us that they did not want to attend the Opening Ceremony because they were focusing on the athletic performances of the athletes who have to participate in competitions the following day. So that kind of attitude is a concern.
“We were also informed about people who told the media that they were not participating in the Games, when the same person refused the invitation to come to the Paralympic Games, saying that they would be on private holidays. And then they say that it is because they are boycotting. That is why I am afraid.”
Unlike the Olympic situation, where the Russian Olympic Committee is still on suspension, the IPC General Assembly last September voted against the suspension of the Russian Paralympic Committee by 111-55 (11 abstentions) and then against a partial suspension by 91-77 (eight abstentions). Belarus was also fully re-admitted.
Then, the Russian Paralympic Committee won Court of Arbitration for Sport cases to force several International Federations to accept entries, despite the qualifying deadline having passed. Russia will have six athletes and Belarus, four.
Ukraine, of course, was outraged and announced it would not participate in the ceremonial opening of the Winter Paralympics. Parsons commented:
“Every National Paralympic Committee whose athletes qualified is invited to take part in the Opening Ceremony Parade.
“Again, the decision was to treat both National Paralympic Committees [Russia and Belarus] as any other National Paralympic Committee. So we don’t have a legal way to not have Russia and Belarus, if they want to attend the Opening Ceremony Parade. We don’t have it.
“Ukraine, as any other NPC participating, they are invited to attend and to be there with their flags. For different reasons, NPCs can decide not to attend. We strongly encourage them to attend. The Opening Ceremony should not be politicised, in our view. We respect and we understand different views. If they don’t want to participate, we regret, but we respect. We will not punish, we will not do anything negative, we will just accept the fact.”
Meanwhile, governments of 33 countries have opposed the Court of Arbitration for Sport decision, and Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Poland and a European Union Commissioner will not attend the opening ceremony on 6 March.
Importantly, there is no indication, thus far, of athletes or teams not competing in the Paralympic Games.
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