Friedhelm Julius Beucher, President of the German Disabled Sports Association, has reiterated his criticism of the readmission of Russian athletes under a neutral flag at next year’s Paralympics in Paris.
“If we as a sport see ourselves as a major peace movement in this world, then no participants from a country that continues to kill, rape, smash and destroy fit in.”said Beucher at the Para Athlete of the Year ceremony on Saturday in Düsseldorf.
IPC made a new decision in September
At the end of September, the narrow majority of the National Paralympic Committees decided at the General Assembly of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in Bahrain to extend the suspension of Russia’s NPK by two years, but to allow athletes from the warmongering country back under conditions.
Germany and other countries, especially Western ones, put up great resistance, but ultimately 74 nations voted for re-authorization and only 65 against.
Situation “got even worse”
“If you have values, you also have to live values,” Beucher continued: “I also allow everyone to interpret values. But for us in the German Disabled Sports Association it is no different to the situation after the outbreak of war.” The DBS president denounced that the war had become “even worse.”