Russian and Belarusian athletes will be declined entry into the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced Thursday morning.
The move comes just one day after the IPC originally declared that Russian and Belarusian athletes would compete as neutrals under the Paralympic flag, with multiple National Paralympic Committees, teams and athletes threatening not to compete if Russian and Belarusian athletes were participating.
The IPC said that these threats were “jeopardizing the viability” of the Paralympic Games moving forward.
The decision came after a specially convened meeting of the IPC Governing Board.
“At the IPC we are very firm believers that sport and politics should not mix. However, by no fault of its own, the war has now come to these Games and behind the scenes, many Governments are having an influence on our cherished event,” said IPC President Andrew Parsons.
“The IPC is a membership-based organization, and we are receptive to the views of our member organizations. When our members elected the Board in December 2021 it was to maintain and uphold the principles, values, and rules of the Paralympic Movement. As Board members that is a responsibility and duty we take extremely seriously.
“In taking our decision yesterday we were looking at the long-term health and survival of the Paralympic Movement. We are fiercely proud of the principles and values that have made the Movement what it is today.
“However, what is clear is that the rapidly escalating situation has now put us in a unique and impossible position so close to the start of the Games.”
Parsons went on to say that “an overwhelming number” of members told the IPC if they didn’t reconsider its decision allowing Russian and Belarusians to compete as neutrals, it would have “grave consequences” for the Paralympic Games.
“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 RPC and NPC Belarus.”
A total of 83 Para athletes from Russia and Belarus were scheduled to compete in Beijing. If they were allowed to compete, Parsons said the number of athletes that withdrew would be far greater.
On Wednesday, a Western Intelligence report indicated that Chinese officials had requested to Russian officials to delay its invasion of Ukraine until after the Beijing Olympics had finished, as first reported by The New York Times.
A reactive decision as opposed to preemptive one .. why didn’t they ban Russia and Belarus to begin with? Why do they need the threat of withdrawals in order to come to this decision .. maybe loss of $$$ made them do it in the end
Correct decision. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, imagine being at an event in this climate with Russian athletes competing. It just doesn’t work. Everybody knows they are Russian regardless of clothing or introduction. Too much of a mental burden for fellow competitors, officials, organizers, announcers and any fans. It’s unbelievable that nobody immediately bothers to step back and evaluate real world situational influence instead of focusing on minutiae like so-called fairness to the given athlete. The priority has to be the many, not the few.
So, the United States Gov. has never done anything like Russia or Belarus?
The comments of Hungarian netizens under Daniel Gyurta’s post on this issue finally make me feel I’m still living in a normal world.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=501490058000522&id=100044185971475
It’s a pity that the world only dare to put sanctions on the weak such as musicians, ball dancers and now disabled athletes, but dare not to stop paying millions everyday to Kremlin for oil and gas.