The athletes from Russia and Belarus are absent from the biggest para event of the year and yet they are omnipresent. The athletes say nothing publicly about this sensitive political topic, the president of the world association is neutral and evasive. But his colleague from the German Disabled Sports Association, Friedhelm Julius Beucher, is all the clearer.
“Without ifs and buts: No! It’s a question of attitude”the DBS president said on the reintegration of Russians and Belarusians: “When the war stops, we’ll have a different situation. As long as it’s going on, it’s beyond my imagination.” He “congratulations” with a view to the ongoing Para World Championships for track and field athletes in the next Olympic and Paralympic city of Paris “The French government and especially the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who says: ‘I don’t want to host Russian and Belarusian athletes if there’s a war going on.'”
No compromise from the IPC
While the International Olympic Committee recommends its national associations to participate under certain conditions, para-athletes are currently excluded following a decision by the Paralympic Committee. “And I will work with the German delegation at the end of September at the IPC Congress in Bahrain and fight to keep it that way.”, said Beucher, who was chairman of the sports committee in the Bundestag from 1998 to 2002. He would therefore also like the 2024 Paralympics without Russians and Belarusians.
IOC requirements include strict neutrality, compliance with the anti-doping code and proof of not actively supporting the war. But that is difficult for Beucher to implement. “There may be athletes who are fundamentally against it”he said: “But we’re not doing an examination of conscience. I don’t presume to be able to judge that. And neither can the IPC and the IOC.”
The 76-year-old also emphasized: “I’m still looking for the peace athletes on the Russian and Belarusian side. I know too many things that are to the contrary, where the war is glorified and supported in posts.” In addition, be “the majority of Russian athletes are army athletes”. So there are restrictions “Window dressing. No one is neutral there, because no one has the opportunity to be neutral either. Standing up for a state that wages war in a way that cannot be surpassed in terms of cruelty is with the Olympic idea of peace as a message in their statutes, not to reconcile.”
IPC boss remains neutral
World Association President Andrew Parsons, on the other hand, takes a neutral position. “My personal opinion is irrelevant”said the IPC boss and does not want to speculate about the development either: “As IPC President, I think it would be wrong to predict the outcome of the IPC General Assembly in September.”
However, he expects “that all members present will have a solid and respectful discussion on this matter, which is extremely important for the Paralympic movement” and “respect the results of the decisions made”. However, Parsons recently let it be known that he was expecting a similar result in September as at the last IPC meeting.