Beijing Paralympics, Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be able to participate. The Olympic Committee changes lines in 24 hours

A change of direction in less than 24 hours, passing from the hypothesis of participation as “neutral” to exclusion. So the athletes from Russia and Belarus they will not be able to compete with Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, scheduled for March 4 to 13, based on the decision of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) issued on Thursday morning. On Wednesday alone, the line was radically different, with athletes from the two countries allowed to compete as neutral at the Games despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which was partially aided by Belarus: therefore without flag or anthem.

The IPC now says it has decided to “refuse the registrations of athletes”By the Russian Paralympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee of Belarus after other countries and athletes threatened not to compete“Jeopardizing the feasibility” of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. “Ensuring the safety and protection of athletes is of fundamental importance for us and the situation in villages of athletes is worsening and now it has become unsustainable, ”said the president of the IPC Andrew Parsons in a note.

The spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov he defined one disgrace the decision: “This situation is definitely monstrous. This is obviously one shame for the International Paralympic Committee as I can’t find any other words to describe it, ”he told the state news agency Tass. “We certainly condemn the International Paralympic Committee for this decision.”