Ukraine took 29 medals at the Beijing Paralympics, being second in the medal table. Ukraine has been successful in the Paralympics before, but now the team stretched to a historic medal.
13.3. 13:19 • Updated March 13. 13:23
The host country, China, won the Beijing Paralympic Medal Table with absolutely superiority: 18 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze medals. A total of 61 medals.
Second in the table was Ukraine, which captured the best Paralympic achievement in the country’s history, 29 medals (11 gold, 10 silver and 8 bronze).
If for any country, then for Ukraine the Paralympics have certainly been a heavy and emotional chore. It was also at stake whether the Ukrainian team would be able to travel to the Games. Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, and the Beijing Games kicked off on March 4.
Russia’s participation in the Games was then disputed. First, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Winter Paralympics, but athletes should not use their national symbols. Among other things, the Finnish Paralympic Committee, together with the other Nordic countries, condemned the solution.
The IPC then reversed the previous decision and announced that Russia and Belarus have been excluded from the Beijing Games. The pressure on the umbrella organization became enormous, the chairman of the International Paralympic Committee admitted Andrew Parsons.
Already at the start of the Games, the feelings of the Ukrainians were on the surface.
– It would have been an easy solution for us not to come here. The fact that we are here is a sign that Ukraine is and will remain, said the chairman of the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee. Valeriy Sushkevitsh among other things According to The Guardian (moving to another service).
“Peace for all” – Ukraine staged a demonstration in a Paralympic village
When the Games began, Ukraine also began to control biathlon and cross-country skiing. In biathlon Ukraine took 22 medals and in cross-country skiing seven.
Oksana Shishkova won the women’s 6km and 12.5km in the biathlon class for the visually impaired and was second in the 10km. On the cross-country side, he won the 15-mile traditional cross-country race and was second in the freestyle sprint.
– There are no expectations, I just want peace in Ukraine, Shishkova said at the beginning of the Games.
On Thursday, Ukraine had staged a peace protest in the Paralympic Village. The sheet read “Peace for All.” The team also held a minute’s silence for the victims of the war, according to the Guardian.
– This minute is for thousands of people, including children with disabilities and others with disabilities, in Ukraine. If humanity is civilized, then this war must end. People deserve to live, not die, Sushkevitsh said.
The athletes received terrible news in the middle of the race
The effects of the war were felt concretely in Beijing. 19 years old Anastasiia Laletina withdrew from the cross-country biathlon race after hearing that his father, who had worked as a soldier, had been captured by the Russian army.
Dmitro Suiarko was able to take the bronze in the men’s biathlon medley, even though his hometown of Chernihiv had just been violently bombed.
Of course, Ukraine has been successful in the Parakisa in the past. The country has been in the top six on both the Summer and Winter Paralympic Medals in 2004. The success of biathlon was now facilitated by the Russians being left out of the competition.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi sent a letter to the Paralympic team on Friday, The Guardian reported. In it, he praised the team for bringing glory to Ukraine. Zelenskyi noted that this is another indication of the strength of the Ukrainians.
– The future of the Ukrainian team is uncertain. Their plan is to fly from Beijing to Poland. Where from there, no one knows. In any case, they have written an unforgettable chapter in the history of the Paralympics and performed with dignified pressure under the worst possible conditions, The Guardian Martin Belam write.