The Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics start on Friday with an opening ceremony clouded by a boycott by several countries in protest at Russian athletes competing under their national flag for the first time since 2014.
Despite Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has allowed six Russian athletes and four from their allies Belarus to represent their countries, accompanied by their national flags, rather than competing as neutrals.
Ukraine’s team will not take part in the ceremony in Verona in protest and they will be joined by the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
IPC president Andrew Parsons justified the decision by citing the vote taken at the organisation’s General Assembly last September, in favour of both countries returning under their flags.
He added that a judgement issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last December cleared the way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to qualify by right for the Games.
Parsons told the BBC on Friday that the IPC’s vote meant Russia would be treated “like any other National Paralympic Committee”, leaving it open to include soldiers injured in its Ukraine offensive in future Paralympic teams.
“There are many countries that recruit athletes from the armed forces, so if Russia does that, they won’t be the only one,” he said.
France and Britain have refused to send government officials to the ceremony in protest at Russia’s inclusion.
And athletes from countries including Canada, Britain, Germany and France will skip the opening ceremony to “prioritise athletic performance”, IPC communications officer Craig Spence told a press conference in Cortina on Thursday.
The curtain-raiser at the historic Verona Arena will take place far away from the competition sites of Cortina, Val di Fiemme and Milan, meaning many athletes will be unable to attend ahead of the start of the sporting events on Saturday from 0830 GMT.
The IPC said nations have sent 12-second videos of their athletes, which will be “dropped into the opening ceremony”, but insisted that “around 60 percent of National Paralympic Committees” will send at least two athletes for the parade.
‘Heartbreaking’
As Russia returns to competition and with the war in the Middle East breaking out during the Olympic truce period, the fear of many is that the extraordinary feats and stories of over 600 athletes could be lost on the 50th anniversary of the Paralympics.
Such has already been the case for Iran’s sole competitor Aboulfazl Khatibi Mianaei, 23, who the IPC announced Friday had been forced to pull out of the Games due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
“It is really disappointing for world sport and especially for Aboulfazl that he is unable to travel safely to compete at his third Paralympic Winter Games,” Parsons said in a statement.
“To not compete at a Paralympic Winter Games because of factors outside of his control after years of training and dedication is heartbreaking for the athlete.”
Spence said Thursday the IPC wanted the focus “throughout the entire Paralympic Games to be on the athletes who have been training for this moment for four years to show off their abilities to the rest of the world”.
The athletes will compete in six different sports spread across three sites, in the north of Italy, until March 15, in an event that comes hot on the heels of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
The Dolomite ski resort of Cortina will play host to most of the action as it welcomes the wheelchair curling, para alpine skiing and para snowboarding.
Milan’s Santagiulia Arena will be the setting for the para ice hockey, while para biathlon and para cross-country skiing events will take place in Val di Fiemme.
Once the action starts, one star to watch will be British para snowboarder Davy Zyw, who will become the first snowsport athlete with motor neurone disease to compete in a Paralympics.
Double Summer Paralympic gold medallist Lauren Parker will make her Winter Games debut when she represents Australia in the biathlon and cross-country events.
El Salvador’s cross-country skier David Chavez will make history when he becomes the first person from the Central American country to take part in a Winter Games — either Olympics or Paralympics.
