A look into the 15 hours that changed the IPC’s mind on banning athletes from Russia and Belarus from the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, since it’s not often you see an international organization change its tune so quickly. At a press conference on March 2 at 21.30 (Beijing time), IPC President Andrew Parsons announced that, after extensive consideration, the IPC Executive Board had decided to permit Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.
In the same room, 15 hours later, he announced that, after even more consideration, the IPC Executive Board had decided to “refuse” the entries of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
It’s an unprecedented about-face, spurred by backlash from the Ukrainian team, an international outcry, and a biathlete who died defending his home city.
So, what changed in those 15 hours?
Let’s begin by looking at the IPC’s initial decision.
The Initial Decision
Many journalists and officials in Beijing expected the IPC to make the same decision as many other sports organisations and federations worldwide – to ban the Russian and Belarusian teams.
After all, organizations from football and hockey to badminton and rowing had already come to the same conclusion.
So, when the IPC released a statement shortly before its late-night press conference stating that Russian and Belarusian athletes would still be allowed to compete, the surprise was evident.
“We were absolutely convinced that the International Paralympic Committee would not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in these Paralympic Games”, said Arnis Veidemanis, coach of Latvia’s curling team. “This decision today was simply unexpected. That’s putting it mildly.”
The IPC’s decision was to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete, but only as “neutral athletes”.
Kyiv Post reporter Lee Reaney questions IPC President Andrew Parsons about the IPC decision to not ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Paralympics (Photo Credit: Lee Reaney) (Janis Slisans)
Athletes and officials from the nations would be asked to cover their flags and their results would not be included separately in the medal count. The Paralympic flag and anthem would be used at ceremonies.
The IPC used a two-fold justification: (1) that athletes are more important than politics; and (2) that the IPC doesn’t have the legal basis to expel nations for breaching the Olympic Truce.
“The principle of political neutrality and the genuine belief in the transformative power of sport must be our North Star, our strength, or perhaps our lifeboat”, said Parsons, adding that any decision to expel the athletes by the Bonn-based IPC would “be overturned in the German court of law”.
The IPC made a strong case that athletes should not be punished for the actions of their governments.
“The athletes here, that were born in that nation, are not the aggressors”, Parsons said. “I think we need to treat them with the same respect as athletes from any other nation who earned qualification to be here”.
The Biathlete
While standing up for the rights of athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at Beijing 2022, the IPC made no mention of Ukrainian (Summer) Paralympians that are staying in bomb shelters, prevented from training or competing at international events.
“We aren’t able to leave”, six-time World champion and 2020 Paralympian Vika Marchuk told the Kyiv Post from a shelter in Zaporizhia. “We sit in a shelter. We were fired upon yesterday.”
The IPC also declined to address the Olympians that are fighting for their homes, including Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Zhan Beleniuk, bronze medalist Stanislav Horuna, or the late Yevhen Malyshev, a Ukrainian biathlete who qualified for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games.
Malyshev, 19, was killed this week defending his home of Kharkiv.
“You spoke about giving athletes the chance to compete”, Kyiv Post asked Parsons.
“He will never get a chance to compete again, so on behalf of his family, we want to know what you would say to them about allowing athletes from the aggressor states to compete when he will never get that chance.”
A moved Parsons offered words of condolence.
“I cannot even imagine how painful it is to be Ukrainian now. I try to sympathize, I try to empathize – it’s difficult, my country is not at war”, he said. “We do recognize the seriousness and the magnitude of the situation; we just try to separate politics from sport.”
The IPC decision did not sit well with Ukraine’s Paralympians in Beijing.
“Yevhen Malyshev was killed in combat in Ukraine, defending his country against Russia’s attack. How many more lives need to be lost before sport implements meaningful sanctions”, the Ukrainian team asked in a statement.
“With or without a neutral label, the Russian and Belarusian authorities will use their athletes’ participation in these Games as state propaganda. Lives are being lost, families are being torn apart, and tears flow for the Ukrainian nation.
The IPC and sport cannot stop the violence, but they could have sent a message that Russia and Belarus’ actions warrant the toughest sanctions and complete isolation”.
The Backlash
Condemnation of the IPC’s decision was swift and overwhelming.
Latvia was among the first to publicly state their refusal to compete with Russian or Belarusian athletes.
“We convened an internal meeting”, said Veidemanis, “And as a result of the vote, decided not to participate in the game with Russia”.
Great Britain, too, offered immediate condemnation.
“I call on them to urgently reconsider”, said UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries. “[The IPC] must join the rest of the world in condemning this barbaric invasion by banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing”.
Similar statements flowed in, one by one, from other National Paralympic Committees, including Australia, Canada, and the USA.
Germany’s Paralympic Committee President Friedhelm Julius Beucher went even further, telling the AFP that the decision was “bullshit” and saying “It’s a dark day for the Paralympic movement.”
The decision incensed Latvian Paralympic Committee President Daiga Dadzite, who called for a leadership change at the IPC.
“I am committed to speaking to Paralympic Committees of other countries after I arrive [to Beijing] in order to encourage the holding of special elections on the change of the Board of the IPC and its head at the General Assembly planned for the end of this year”, she said in a statement.
“I believe that, in the current situation of Russia’s hostilities in Ukraine, this position of the IPC is unacceptable and cannot have a leadership that fears the [legal] trials threatened by Russia”.
The Backtrack
The response seemed to catch the IPC by surprise, and in a hastily called press conference in the afternoon of March 3rd, the organization announced that it would, after all, ban the athletes from Russia and Belarus.
The IPC noted the overwhelming response of member Paralympic committees as the primary reason for the change of heart.
“The IPC is a membership-based organization, and we are receptive to the views of our member organizations”, the IPC said in explaining its decision.
“Yesterday we said we would continue to listen, and that is what we are doing.
In the last 12 hours an overwhelming number of members have been in touch with us and been very open … They have told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. Multiple NPCs … are threatening not to compete.
In order to preserve the integrity of these Games … we have decided to refuse the athlete entries from RPC [Russia] and NPC Belarus”.
When asked if they wished they had made a different decision the night before, IPC spokesperson Craig Pence was clear.
“Do we wish the conversation was different? Emphatically yes”, said Pence. “This is the week leading up to the second biggest sporting event we organize. We wish the conversations now were not about the politics around sport – which we were trying to keep out – we wish the stories were about athletes”.
The banning of Russia and Belarus from the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games won immediate praise.
Finland was among the first to express its support of the decision
“The only right decision!”, said Finnish Paralympic Committee Chairman Sari Rautio.
“Thank you to all the member countries around the world who are working unanimously on this issue. Special thanks from us to the rest of the Nordic countries, Baltic countries, and Poland for their great action and cooperation. Now let’s focus on the competition … Good luck to all athletes, especially our own Northern stars and to the brave Ukrainian team.”
Poland also expressed its support.
“The decision taken today was in our opinion the only possible one”, The Polish Paralympic Committee said in a statement. “Russia, with the support of Belarus, has aggressively breached international law and invaded another Paralympic member state and our close neighbour. We are glad the IPC changed its mind.”
In a press conference directly following the IPC announcement of the ban, Ukrainian Paralympic Committee President Valeriy Sushkevych thanked the international community for its support.
“It’s great, great solidarity in Europe, in the world”, said Sushkevych at a press conference. “We are here because we are together. Thank you. Thank you.”
Valeriy Sushkevych, president of the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee, speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing on March 3, 2022. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT
As for Pence’s wish that the Paralympic stories were about athletes, it was teen biathlete Yevhen Malyshev’s brave defence of Kyiv that was the story of the day.
“I cannot even start to imagine the pain that his family is feeling at the moment”, said Andrew Parsons, before directly addressing Malyshev’s family.
“I can only tell them that my deepest thoughts are with them. This is absolutely not fair. It is disgusting. It is against humanity.”
Russian winter Paralympic games athletes have been taunting their Ukrainian rivals with “threats of bombing their families back home”, claims a British gold medal-winner. Loughborough-based Paralympics GB star Richard Whitehead told the ITV channel’s Good Morning Britain programme that he’d seen several of the messages sent to competitors whose country is currently being torn apart by war. The 45-year-old two-time sprinting gold medallist, who lives in Nottingham, runs with prosthetic legs and trains at Loughborough University. The full story is available here.
