Beijing (AP) – Russia and Belarus are now excluded from the Paralympics, which begin on Friday, because of the war in Ukraine. This was announced by the International Paralympic Committee, thereby revising its decision from the previous day.
Several associations, teams and athletes have threatened to boycott the games, which would have endangered the “viability of the Paralympic Winter Games”. The situation in the athletes’ villages is also escalating, making the safety of the athletes untenable, the IPC said.
Does the CAS have to decide?
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized the exclusion of Russian athletes as “catastrophic. It’s a shame for the International Paralympic Committee. I can’t put it any other way,” said Peskov on Thursday. The Russian Paralympic Committee said it reserves the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The decision was “unreasonable” and contradicts the basic principles of the non-political character of the Paralympic family, Russian agencies quoted in a statement.
At a meeting on Wednesday, the IPC decided that athletes from Russia and Belarus could participate as neutral athletes and under the Paralympic flag. This had caused great outrage in the sports world, as well as in the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS). “Yesterday’s decision shocked us and threw a dark light on these games,” DBS President Friedhelm Julius Beucher was quoted as saying in a statement: “With this about-face, the IPC followed the will of the majority of the national committees and the athletes, who exerted great pressure. This is a strong sign of democracy within the Paralympic movement.”
pressure was too great
Global pressure has now made those responsible rethink. “We at the IPC firmly believe that sport and politics should not be mixed. But through no fault of our own, war has now come to these games and behind the scenes many governments are influencing our cherished event,” said IPC President Andrew Parson quoted in the statement.
In the past few days, sports associations around the world have shown solidarity and excluded Russian athletes and clubs in protest against the war. In doing so, they also implemented a recommendation from the International Olympic Committee. IOC boss Thomas Bach had defended the IPC despite the controversial decision.
The German official pointed out that the IPC had adhered to the second point of the IOC’s recommendations on Monday. The head of the IOC had advised the international federations to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to start as neutral participants if exclusion was no longer possible due to time or legal reasons. But Parson was forced to admit: “What is clear, however, is that the rapidly escalating situation so close to the start of the games has put us in a unique and impossible position.”