Lisa Nandy slams ‘terrible’ decision to allow Russia into Winter Paralympics
Russia and close ally Belarus will have 10 athletes competing under their flags at the upcoming Winter Paralympics in a first since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has slamed the “terrible” decision to allow Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete under their own flags at the Winter Paralympics.
Russian and Belarussian athletes have been forced to compete as neutral athletes at recent games, including the current Winter Olympics in Italy, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But the Winter Paralympics, which begin on March 6, has taken a different approach, meaning a Russian flag will fly at an Olympics for the first time since 2014.
Back in September, the International Paralympic Committee lifted its ban on athletes from the two countries competing. And the IPC has now confirmed that six Russian and four Belarussian para-athletes have been permitted to take part in the Para-alpine skiing, Para-cross country skiing and Para-snowboarding at the Milan-Cortina Games.
In response, Nandy wrote on X: “This is completely the wrong decision. Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal invasion of Ukraine continues sends a terrible message. The International Paralympic Committee should reconsider this decision urgently.”
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It comes after Russia and its close ally Belarus won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) in December.
An IPC statement read: “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).”
The athletes in question have been given bipartite commission invites, which are are given to individual athletes “who may not have had the opportunity to qualify through other methods due to extraordinary circumstances”, rather than their federations.
A Russian flag has not been seen at an Olympic Games since the country hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. Russia was initially banned after its state-sponsored doping plan was uncovered and then after Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Aleksey Bugaev, a three-time Paralympic champion in alpine skiing, and cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian will be among those to take part in Italy, having returned to competion in January.
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The International Olympic Committee has previously cleared 13 competitors from Russia to participate as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) in the Winter Olympics at Milan-Cortina. The issue was in the headlines after Ukraine’s skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified for refusing to stop wearing a helmet depicting fellow athletes killed since Russia’s invasion of his country.
Heraskevych was banned by International Olympic Committee (IOC) and saw his appeal to Cas also rejected. Cas said they were “fully sympathetic” to Heraskevych’s case and his right to “freedom of expression”, but ruled in favour of the IOC, agreeing that his helmet was not permitted “on the field of play”.
