Russian athletes have sporting ban lifted at Paralympics with anthem allowed to be played | Other | Sport
Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under their nation’s flag at the Paralympics for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It was confirmed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on Tuesday that six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will be permitted to wear their national colours at next month’s Games in Milan-Cortina. The governing body said the athletes in question would be “treated like (those from) any other country”.
Following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, athletes from Russia have been forced to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes. The upcoming Paralympics will mark the first time they have been allowed to take part in Russian colours since then. The national anthem will also be played should any Russian or Belarusian athletes make the podium in their respective events.
The ban will still apply to Russian athletes in the Winter Olympics, with it only being lifted for the Paralympics.
In a statement, the IPC said: “The IPC can confirm that NPC Russia has been awarded a total of six slots: two in Para-alpine skiing (one male, one female), two in Para-cross country skiing (one male, one female), and two in Para-snowboard (both male).
“NPC Belarus has been awarded four slots in total, all in cross-country skiing (one male and three female).”
It will mark the first time a Russian flag has been flown at a Paralympic Games since 2014, initially due to the country’s state-sponsored doping programme before the invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
According to Russian news agency TASS, three-time Paralympic alpine skiiing champion Aleksey Bugaev is among the athletes set to compete next month.
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He will reportedly be joined by cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian, who are both World Championship medallists.
Ukrainian sports minister Matvii Bidnyi previously said that any decision to lift the ban on Russian athletes would risk legitimising Vladimir Putin‘s aggression in the country.
He told Sky News: “It’s a very strange position… nothing changed. This condemnation of all of the world, of the sports community, is very important for international pressure on the aggressor.”
ladislav Heraskevych was barred from Olympic competition last week for refusing to ditch his ‘helmet of memory’, adorned with images of more than 20 athletes and coaches from Ukraine to have died during the conflict.
