The 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Milano-Cortina begin today Friday, March 6, until March 15, with the controversial participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes who will be representing their national flag, unlike other competitions (including the Winter Olympics last month) where they were neutral athletes. Ukraine and more countries will boycott the opening ceremony.
These will be the first Paralympic Games since 2014 where Russian and Belarus flags will be seen. Russia was banned in 2022 after the invasion in Ukraine and in 2018 due to a doping scandal.
International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons was asked by BBC Sport about the controversial decision of the IPC to lift the ban on Russia and Belarus, and specifically, about a sensitive topic: allowing the participation of injured war veterans in future Paralympic Games. "There are many countries that recruit athletes from the armed forces, so if Russia does that, they won't be the only one".
The question was motivated by a report from Moscow Times that Russia is "fast-tracking injured soldiers into Para-sport." So no, the IPC won't ban Russian war veterans from participating in future Winter Olympic Games, which would probably increase the tension between Russia and Ukraine knowing where they were before becoming para-athletes...
"We have to remember where we come from. Our movement started after World War Two, specifically with injured military personnel", Parsons said, "so what the Paralympic movement offers is possibility after war."
"We are against any war, any conflict, but what we offer is an opportunity for those who are injured in war to be reintegrated into society through sport. It doesn't matter to us what they have done in the past in the combat field. Of course crimes of war are something different, but what we offer with the movement is a second chance."