Athletes from Russia will be allowed to compete again under a neutral flag at the Paralympics in Paris next year (August 28 to September 8, 2024). This was decided by the majority of the National Paralympic Committees on Friday at the General Assembly of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in Bahrain.
In a first vote, the member associations voted 74:65 (with 13 abstentions) against a motion for the complete suspension of the NPK of Russia. In the afternoon, a majority of 90 nations voted to extend the suspension by two years and an associated start under a neutral flag.
Decision as a pointer for the Olympic Committee
56 member associations voted against suspending the NPK Russia and thus in favor of participating under the national flag (six abstentions). The decision should also serve as a pointer for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is playing for time on the issue.
Until recently, the IPC had refrained from allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete, even under a neutral flag. That was the result of the general assembly in Berlin last November.
In Manama, the capital of Bahrain, the NPKs now decided differently. The IOC, with Thomas Bach at the helm, officially recommended that the international professional associations re-admit Russian individual athletes in the winter. Since then, many experts have expected that this will pave the way for Russia to Paris despite its war of aggression in Ukraine.
The IOC wants to make a decision on the politically controversial participation of Russian athletes in the Olympics “in due course”. During the members’ and general assembly in the Gulf state of Bahrain, the member associations of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) somewhat surprisingly decided on Friday (September 29, 2023) to lift the complete exclusion of Russia.
DBS and Mayor of Paris against it
A vote to maintain the complete exclusion would probably have meant the end of the Paralympics, regardless of when the war might end, as the Russian athletes would have had hardly any qualification options left.
The German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) had made a clear commitment to another end in advance, and President Friedhelm Julius Beucher had also announced that he would vote accordingly. The Paralympics in Paris will take place next year from August 28th to September 8th. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, had said she did not want to host Russian and Belarusian athletes if the war was still ongoing.
