Winter Paralympics: Ukraine set to boycott games
Ukrainian officials will boycott next month’s Winter Paralympics after Russian and Belarusian athletes were invited to compete under their national flags.
On Tuesday, it was announced six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will compete in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding at the Milan-Cortina Games, which start on 6 March.
In September, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) lifted its ban on athletes from the two countries competing at the Games.
However, the IPC does not govern the six sports contested at the Paralympics and despite the individual bodies – including FIS – refusing to lift their own bans, Russia and Belarus won an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (Cas) against FIS.
As a result, athletes have been able to return to FIS competitions and the 10 athletes have been awarded bipartite commission invitations to compete at the Paralympics.
“Ukrainian public officials will not attend the Paralympic Games,” said the country’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi.
“We will not be present at the opening ceremony. We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events.
“We thank every official from the free world who will do the same. We will keep fighting!”
Both countries were suspended from Paralympic competition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Belarus a close ally of Russia.
A partial ban – allowing athletes to compete as neutrals – was introduced in 2023.
Earlier on Wednesday, Johan Eliasch, the president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) told BBC Sport the decision to award bipartite places had “not been easy”.
“What we’re dealing with here is an issue that is divisive, where people have different feelings depending on where they come from. It’s something that we have to respect,” he said.
“Athletes can’t choose where they were born. On the other hand, they can’t be used for PR purposes in their home countries to promote the war.
“It’s our duty to make sure that athletes are not weaponised for political purposes.”
Bipartite commission invites are granted to individual athletes, rather than their international federation, and allow the participation of top athletes “who may not have had the opportunity to qualify through other methods due to extraordinary circumstances”, among other factors.
The IPC, with the support of international federations – in this case FIS – decides who receives the bipartite slots after receiving recommendations from the federation.
Ukraine has also been awarded bipartite slots in three sports.
In an earlier statement, Bidnyi said the decision to award slots to Russia and Belarus was “both disappointing and outrageous”, adding their flags “have no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity and respect.”
Eliasch added: “It is difficult, and in our case in the end, the courts decided the outcome.
“Everything has been done by the book. We’ve had strict vetting schemes of the people who do participate to make sure they don’t have any affiliation with the military, and it’s important that we keep that up.”
Source: BBC