The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Paralympians from Russia, Belarus allowed to compete
A decision by the International Paralympic Committee on Wednesday to allow Russians and Belarussians to compete as “neutrals athletes” generated a heart-wrenching reply only hours after it was announced.
Russian athletes had already been slated to compete as RPC, short for Russian Paralympic Committee, as punishment for the state-sponsored doping scandal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and a subsequent cover-up.
The IPC added more restrictions on the Russians when the Paralympics open on Friday. Belarus was sanctioned for its part in aiding Russia with the invasion and war against Ukraine.
But there was no expulsion. And that hit a nerve.
At a news conference in Beijing after the decision, a reporter who said he worked for the Kyiv Post asked IPC president Andrew Parsons what he would say to the family of biathlete Yevhen Malyshev.
Malyshev was killed this week in Ukraine, but the exact circumstances of his death are unclear. The International Biathlon Union said Wednesday he “died this week serving in the Ukrainian military.”
The Kyiv Post reporter held up the young man’s photograph as he questioned Parsons.
“I cannot even start to imagine the pain that his family is feeling at the moment,” Parsons said. “I can only tell them that my deepest thoughts are with them. This is absolutely not fair. It is disgusting. It is against humanity.”
Parsons repeatedly defended the decision not to expel Russian and Belarusian athletes, saying the rules of the IPC did not allow it. The IPC is based in Germany, and he said any expulsion “would be overturned in the German court of law.”
“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,” Parsons added.
The Ukraine-based reporter pressed Parsons again to explain why Russians and Belarusians should be allowed to compete — even as neutral athletes. He repeatedly identified them as being from the “aggressor nations.”
“I cannot even imagine how painful it is to be a Ukrainian right now,” said Parsons, a Brazilian. “I try to sympathize and try to empathize. It’s difficult. My country is not at war and my family is not hiding themselves in the subways of the capital of my nation.”
IPC spokesman Craig Spence acknowledged the distaste many feel for allowing Russians and Belarusians to compete.
Nadine Dorries, a British minister who is responsible for sports, called it “the wrong decision.”
“They (IPC) must join the rest of the world in condemning this barbaric invasion by banning Russian and Belarussian athletes from competing,” she said.
Parsons said the decision was not unanimous among his dozen board members, but he said the majority favored it. He did not give a voting breakdown.
Both delegations will be excluded from the medal table.