The 14th Paralympic Winter Games in Italy have officially started with the opening ceremony.
Twelve days after the final act of the Winter Olympics at the same location, 28 of the 55 participating nations brought athletes with disabilities to the Roman Amphitheater in Verona – including Russia and Belarus.
No athletes served as flag bearers at the unattractive entry of the nations. Instead, videos – including one from the German team, for which Anna-Lena Forster and Jörg Wedde were nominated as flag bearers – were shown on a screen while volunteers registered all 55 flags on site. The International Paralympics Committee (IPC) justified this with the long distances between Verona and the competition locations, which would have made it difficult for the teams to participate.
Several nations boycott celebration
Due to space constraints, only two athletes and officials per nation were able to take part in the celebration. Several countries boycotted the ceremony completely in protest against the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes under their own flag and anthem. A spokesman had previously said that the IPC was aware of seven committees – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine – that were staying away for political reasons.
According to the IPC, Canada, Great Britain, Germany and France decided not to take part for sporting reasons and would not boycott the ceremony. The German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) declared on Tuesday that it would not take part in the athletes’ parade, citing its focus on the upcoming competitions and its solidarity with the Ukrainian delegation.
DBS with second largest squad
The decision, which was not easy, was made in close dialogue with the team, said the new DBS CEO Idriss Gonschinska. The DBS is there with 40 participants and eight guides, making it the second largest German contingent in the history of the Winter Paralympics. Only in curling are there no athletes from Team D at the start.
At the 50th anniversary of the Winter Games, 611 athletes from 55 countries will compete in six para sports over the next nine days. Contrary to the previous announcement, Iran is missing. The IPC announced a few hours before the opening that the safe arrival of Nordic skier Aboulfazl Khatibi Mianaei, the only starter, could not be guaranteed.
Team D far from Verona
The Alpine athletes from Team Germany watched the opening ceremony together in a good mood in the German House in Cortina. Anna-Lena Forster and her Alpine colleagues waved small flags in front of the television and cheered when the German flag was carried into the arena.
A joint public viewing was also planned for the Nordic athletes in the Paralympic village in Predazzo. The DBS has set up a lounge with a television on the team’s floor, reported cross-country skier and biathlete Marco Maier.
