Beijing, 4 March 2022 (TDI): The International Paralympics Committee has banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics. The decision came over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Winters Paralympics are going to start from 4 March in Beijing, China.
IPC statement on the RPC and NPC Belarus participation at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. https://t.co/Y5yimQ3MN7
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) March 2, 2022
The decision came when many countries expressed reservations about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result, 71 Russians and 12 Belarusians will not participate in Winter Paralympics. Besides, Winter Paralympics brings together nearly 600 athletes from all across the world.
Earlier, Federation International Football Association (FIFA) banned the Russia Football players from participating in Football WorldCup 2022.
Statement of the President International Paralympics Committee
In a statement, Andrew Parsons, IPC President, said, “To the Para athletes from the impacted countries, we are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic Truce. You are victims of your governments’ actions.”
Additionally, IPC President hoped that the situation would return to normal and again we would be able to transform disabled persons through the power of sport.
Russian Response to the Ban
The Russian Paralympic Committee declared the decision “baseless and illegal”.
Further, talking about the decision, the Press Secretary for the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, called the decision a “disgrace.” Also, he condemned the IPC decision and said, “Yesterday one decision was taken, and today they took another. We strongly condemn the International Paralympic Committee for this decision.”
Likewise, Russian sports minister Oleg Matytsin declared that the decision violates athletes’ rights. He said, “Today’s decision of the International Paralympic Committee to bar our team is a blatant violation of athletes’ rights and a manipulation of the Olympic Charter and human lives’ values in pursuit of political goals.”
