Athletes from around the world applauded when Paralympic leaders withdrew Russia from the Games. This move, in many ways, marked the culmination of a growing movement of people who are actually presenting the show to find a bigger voice in the Olympic world.
“It’s because of the athletes,” said Ukrainian skeletonist Vladislav Heraskevich, who lives about 100 miles from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, fearing an attack by Russian troops who invaded the country earlier this week.
Thursday’s turning point in Thursday’s rapid development was a “very, very volatile environment” in the Beijing Paralympic Athletes’ Village, according to the organization’s head.
The International Paralympic Committee was faced with a very real opportunity for athletes to simply get up and go home before their games start on Friday. To prevent this, he gave sharp feedback and chose to ban Russian and Belarusian Paralympic teams, which had previously been allowed to compete under a neutral flag.
“We did not think that whole delegations or even teams in delegations would withdraw, boycott, not participate,” said IPC President Andrew Parsons.
Rob Koehler, head of the Global Athlete advocacy group, called the moment “a clear message to every athlete about how valuable and important their votes for change are.”
Earlier this week, a group of Ukrainian athletes joined Koehler’s group to issue a statement condemning Russia’s invasion and a call for an immediate ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The list of signatories to this letter grew by the hour. That covers several hundred athletesby adding the persons who put their names in the letter to those who were members of the federations and the sports commissions who also signed.
It could have been more, but as the letter said, “it was a challenge to talk to all the athletes from Ukraine, as they are looking for safety in bomb shelters.”
The International Olympic Committee has signaled that it has heard the announcement. He called on all federations to ban athletes from those countries from competing. Many listened to this advice – including ice skating, skiing, football, hockey, basketball and more.
But the Paralympic Games did not impose a ban, explaining that he would never stand trial because of the rules. The IOC, with the Olympics in the rearview mirror, also accepted the ban itself.
The decision shed light on the New York Times report that China specifically asked Russia to postpone any invasion until the end of the Olympics. The countries are allies – their presidents held a summit the day after the opening ceremony and announced that their strategic partnership has no boundaries. It was no shock that China did not want the start of the war to tarnish its vast sporting spectacle.
But the Paralympics brought more than 600 athletes to Beijing to compete for 10 days of skiing, skating and sledding. This is one of the largest gatherings of international athletes in this part of the Olympics. Removing the Russian flag without removing the country’s athletes was, Parsons said, “the most severe punishment we can impose under our constitution and current IPC rules.”
However, these rules have reversed to reality.
The Latvian and South Korean curling teams have said they will not go out on the ice against Russia for an early round match. Other athletes were considering leaving. The IPC could no longer ignore this possibility.
“It’s very clear that the athletes made that decision, not the sports leaders,” said Ali Jawad, a four-time Paralympian on board the Global Athlete.
The thought of leaving is the most drastic possible option for athletes who spend their lives training for a day or two in honor of the biggest show in the sport. For decades, no one has made this choice voluntarily.
The idea of competing in China, with his experience of human rights abuses, was a stomach ache for many Olympians. But they all chose to go, largely because they knew there was no wave to follow them through the door. The boycott itself, they said, will grab headlines in a day or two, but then the world will simply move on.
Athletes posed a greater threat than Paras. It was the latest, most striking demonstration of power on the go, which includes victories in the fight for Olympic rules for marketing and demonstrations, a flap on women wearing bikes for beach handball, the payment of women’s soccer players and more.
“The list goes on and on and shows that when athletes say ‘Things are changing and they’re changing today,’ that can really happen,” Koehler said.
Russia is likely to take the case to the Sports Arbitration Court. CAS, IOC, World Athletics, World Anti-Doping Agency and dozens of others in this long “alphabet soup” of sports organizations have a long history of distorting the rules of international sports to make them say what they want.
One example: While before the outbreak of the war, Russia remained largely acceptable in most sports despite eight years of rule-breaking and cover-up, it was still considered a fraudulent country in athletics.
He is also currently a persona non grata at the Paralympic Games. The credit for this goes to a growing group of athletes who would not accept another opportunity.
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