MILAN, Feb. 24 – The International Paralympic Committee says a General Assembly decision to let Russian and Belarusian athletes compete under their national flags and anthems at the Winter Paralympics stands, despite boycott warnings from Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The IPC allocated 10 combined slots and said the athletes will appear in para alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding, with the opening ceremony set for March 6 in Verona, the BBC reported.
Boycott pressure builds
Ukraine said it will boycott the opening ceremony in protest, the Czech Paralympic Committee announced it will stay away in solidarity, and some Polish officials plan to skip the event, CBC wrote.
IPC President Andrew Parsons said the ruling cannot be overturned by the board or by him, while encouraging Ukrainian athletes to attend and warning that the issue risks becoming politicized, according to the BBC.
Host nation response
Italy’s government has urged the IPC to reverse course and is in ongoing talks with organizers to limit the impact of the dispute while ensuring athletes can compete in the best possible environment, Reuters said.
Russia says it is wrong to mix politics and sport and calls the targeting of disabled athletes offensive, while it has been excluded from much international competition since the invasion of Ukraine, The Independent reported.
Wider fallout
The European Commission’s sports commissioner said he will boycott the opening ceremony and Ukrainian officials urged a broader diplomatic boycott, Euronews reported.
Euronews noted that Russian and Belarusian athletes have competed at the Winter Olympics only as neutral entrants, while the Winter Olympics ended without national flags for those countries, a context The Independent highlighted.
The Milano Cortina Paralympics run from March 6 to March 15, and the IPC says it has received no formal notice of additional withdrawals from the ceremony, according to Reuters.
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Image: Paralympic flag. Credit: Scazon. Source: Wikimedia Commons (original: Flickr). License: CC BY 2.0. Modifications: Cropped to 16:9 and resized to 1920×1080.
