Seven countries to boycott Paralympics ceremony over Russia: organisers

Organisers of the Milan-Cortina Paralympics confirmed on Thursday that seven countries will boycott the opening ceremony in protest at Russian athletes being allowed to compete under their own flag for the first time since 2014.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said last month it would allow six Russians and four athletes from Belarus to take part in the Games under their national flags rather than as neutral competitors.

Russia and Belarus were banned from the 2022 Paralympics following the invasion of Ukraine, although they were permitted to compete as neutral athletes in the Paris Summer Paralympics two years later.

Following the IPC’s announcement, several countries, including Ukraine, said they would boycott Friday’s opening ceremony in Verona as a result.

“You will have seen also in the last 10 days news of some National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) who have decided not to come for political reasons and there’s been various numbers (reported),” IPC communications officer Craig Spence told a press conference in Cortina on Thursday.

“I’ve seen numbers ranging from seven to 15. So let me be very clear on the NPCs who are not coming for political reasons.

“We have Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine.”

Spence added the IPC “respect that decision” to boycott the ceremony.

With the curtain-raiser taking place far away from the competition sites of Cortina, Val di Fiemme and Milan, the IPC indicated that other countries would not have athletes present at the ceremony but insisted that was due to their decision to “prioritise athletic performance”.

“Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, they’re not boycotting the ceremony,” Spence explained. “They’ve told us that they are not coming for performance reasons.”

With several events, including alpine skiing, starting on Saturday from 0830 GMT, many athletes have elected to stay close to their bases.

Spence added that many countries informed the IPC last year that they would be unable to attend the ceremony at the historic Verona Arena.

“In November we were informed by several nations that they wouldn’t be able to come to the ceremony because they wanted to prioritise athletic performance and the IPC completely respects that,” he said.

“At the end of the day athletes have been training for this moment for many years and if they’re prioritising performance then we’re happy with that.”

The IPC said many nations have sent 12-second videos of their athletes, which will be “dropped into the opening ceremony”.