Russian and Belarusian athletes will no longer be able to compete at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing after multiple teams threatened not to compete at the Games, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said on Thursday.
The decision comes less than a day after the IPC initially permitted athletes from both countries to compete as neutrals under the Paralympic flag and the Paralympic anthem. IPC President Andrew Parsons said on Wednesday that Russian athletes should not be viewed as « aggressors » and that the organization’s governing board didn’t have the authority to ban athletes outright as a result of its constitution. The IPC, however, said in a statement on Thursday that multiple National Paralympic committees (NPCs), teams and athletes were now threatening not to compete and that the situation in the athlete villages « is escalating […] and ensuring the safety of athletes has become untenable.
