Paralympics: the start in Beijing tonight

The longest applause for the saddest nation: it was given by the audience of the Bird’s Nest in Beijing at the entrance of the Ukrainian delegation during the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Paralympics, which took place at the stadium of the Chinese capital. Wrapped in the flag of their country, Ukrainian athletes marched on feeling the warmth of the crowd. An attitude that was not taken for granted on the eve. “Peace” is the word that rang out loudest in the speech of Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, who thus opened and closed his speech. It could not have been otherwise, given the international situation and the decision to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Games.

threats

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Richard Whitehead, British Paralympic champion in athletics and part of his country’s delegation, described the situation in the Paralympic Village on the Good Morning Britain radio broadcast, with insults and threats from Russian and Belarusian athletes against Ukrainians: “I have heard many messages of indoctrination within the Russian community, and messages that Russian athletes are sending to Ukrainian athletes about the bombing of their homes. I have seen them and they include threats to bomb their families at home. It is terrible. It is disgusting behavior. “

pancalli

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Luca Pancalli, CIP president and member of the IPC board: “Our first decision went exactly in the direction indicated by President Zelensky, that of knowing how to distinguish the Russian government from the Russian people. Then in the following hours situations changed, and they also intervened some governments on their delegations and even the climate in the Village has become heavier. To save the Paralympics, it could not have been done otherwise “.

parsons

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“I am horrified by what is happening in these days: the Olympic and Paralympic truce has been violated, a resolution voted by the UN with the contribution of all countries”, said Parsons during the opening ceremony to the applause of the audience of the stage: “As the leader of an organization with inclusion at its core, where diversity is celebrated and differences embraced, I am horrified by what is happening in the world right now. We at IPC aspire to a better and more inclusive world, free from discrimination, hatred, ignorance “.

xi jinping

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Xi Jinping, together with his wife, officially opened the Games. Without Russians and Ukrainians, there were 563 athletes (instead of the 650 expected, equaled the PyeongChang attendance record) with the highest number of women ever (138 against 133 at the 2018 Winter Paralympics) and representing 46 Paralympic Committees national. The Italian delegation paraded next to last in the stadium, as happens for the delegations of the States that will host the next edition of the Games, before China. The Paralympics starts on the Italian night (live on Rai2 from 2.45am) with the alpine skiing, biathlon, curling and ice para hockey competitions (live broadcast of the Italian race from 9.30 on RaiSport). Bertagnolli, a visually impaired skier with two golds, silver and bronze medals won in PyeongChang in 2018, led by Andrea Ravelli, will be the protagonist from the very first races, with the downhill that opens the alpine skiing program in the Italian night. Among the Azzurri there will also be Davide Bendotti and Martina Vozza, led by Ylenia Benedessi, 17, the youngest of the Italian team.