The International Paralympic Committee reversed its previous decision that Russians and Belarusians would have been allowed to participate in the Paralympics without country codes.
Russia and Belarus are excluded from the Beijing Winter Paralympics, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said in a statement.
The Beijing Winter Paralympics will compete on May 5-13. March. The opening is already scheduled for Friday. The Russian team would have competed with 71 athletes.
The International Paralympic Committee reversed its decision on Wednesday that Russian and Belarusian athletes could have competed as neutral athletes without country codes.
The IPC’s original decision sparked much criticism. Among other things, the Finnish Paralympic Committee condemned the solution. Finland, together with the other Nordic countries, sent the chairman of the IPC on Monday To Andrew Parsons a letter demanding the exclusion of Russia and Belarus from the Games.
According to the International Paralympic Committee, several athletes would have refused to compete against Russian and Belarusian athletes. The pressure on the umbrella organization was enormous, President Parsons admitted.
– In the last 12 hours, we have received a crushing number of contacts from our members. They said the consequences could be serious if we do not reconsider our decision, Parsons said in a recent press release.
Chairman of the Finnish Paralympic Committee Sari Rautio says that Finland did not threaten to refuse to compete if the decision does not change.
– There was a discussion, but we believed that the situation would still turn into a victory for sport and justice. We said that if the decision does not change, we will consider other options for what we will do.
Rautio is pleased that IPC was able to react quickly to the feedback it received.
– Of course, this was the only right decision in this situation. It is good that the membership was listened to and the seriousness of the situation was understood. The Olympic and Paralympic Peace has been violated, and people are in need and suffering in Ukraine.
According to Parsons, the decision was also based on concerns about the safety of athletes.
– The safety of athletes is of paramount importance to us. The situation in the race village is escalating and has become unsustainable. To protect the integrity of the Paralympics and the athletes, we ended up not allowing the Russians and Belarusians to compete, Parsons said.
The reason for blocking the participation of Russians and Belarusians is the war of aggression against Ukraine launched by Russia a week ago. Russia and Belarus have been closed to many international sporting events since the start of the war.
Twenty Ukrainian athletes will participate in the Paralympics.