Berlin – Contrary to the numerous sanctions in the international sports world after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to take part in the Winter Paralympics in Beijing starting on Friday. Athletes from both countries will compete as neutral athletes following a decision by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
But with its decision on Wednesday, the IPC encountered clear criticism and incomprehension. In particular, the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) and the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) reacted with unusual intensity. “It’s disappointing and discouraging. In view of the daily atrocities of war in Ukraine, we would not have thought such a decision possible,” said DBS President Friedhelm Julius Beucher.
Beucher speaks of the wrong signal
The fact that the Russian and Belarusian athletes compete under the Paralympic flag and are not included in the medal table does not lessen the severity of the criticism. “Participation based on renaming it as ‘neutral’ undermines the intention and aim of the sanctions to counter the blatant breach of international law with signs that are visible worldwide,” says DOSB President Thomas Weikert.
The decision sends a “completely wrong signal”, according to DBS boss Beucher. In such a situation, moral and political decisions are needed, not legal ones. “I still can’t and still don’t want to imagine that Russian and Ukrainian athletes will move into the stadium for the opening ceremony on Friday and compete in sporting competitions from Saturday.” side of humanity”, criticized Beucher. Rather, the 14-member Governing Board “argued with a set of rules, while in Ukraine people shoot and murder without rules”.
Quade is ashamed of the decision
The Chef de Mission, Karl Quade, made a similar statement. For him it is incomprehensible “that the IPC makes a completely different decision than the vast majority of the sports world,” he said. He has been a member of the Paralympic movement since the IPC was founded in 1989, “but I am deeply ashamed of this decision”. Many national committees have shown total incomprehension for this decision.
The IPC wanted to punish Russia and its ally Belarus, but not want athletes from those countries to suffer. “Unlike their respective governments, these Paralympic athletes and officials are not the aggressors. You are here to attend a sporting event like everyone else,” said Brazilian IPC President Andrew Parsons. It is “vital that we show world leaders through our sport that we can unite as people and that our true power lies in promoting peace, understanding and inclusion.” You should “not lose sight of that now, no matter what the circumstances”. For the time being, however, the IPC will not hold any events in Russia or Belarus.
Parsons explains the IPC decision
The executive “agreed that the violation of the ceasefire could not go unpunished.” The Olympic ceasefire resolution, signed by 193 member states of the UN General Assembly, requires the ceasefire to be observed from seven days before the start of the Winter Olympics on February 4th to seven days after the end of the Winter Paralympic Games on March 21st. The Paralympics in China open in Beijing on Friday and last until March 13th
“What we have chosen is the harshest punishment that we can impose within our constitution and current IPC rules,” Parsons said. After the games, we will “find out with our 206 member organizations whether violations of the Olympic Truce could lead to possible suspension or expulsion from future Paralympic Games”. The members should also decide “whether we suspend or terminate the membership of the National Paralympic Committee of Russia or Belarus”.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), athletes from Ukraine, among others, had previously requested the exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus in an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach and IPC Director Andrew Parsons and other national associations from Germany and the USA .