Russia marks Paralympic return amid calls for peace
Joanna Guelas |
Russia and Belarus have marked their return to the Paralympics amid calls for “peace, inclusion, and solidarity” at the 2026 Milan-Cortina opening ceremony.
The Russian flag was flown at the Paralympics for the first time in over a decade, with Ukraine among eight countries to boycott Friday night’s (local time) opening ceremony at Verona Arena in protest.
Great Britain, New Zealand, Canada, Israel and France were among 29 of the total 55 participating countries who did not send athletes to the ceremony, due to a tight turnaround with the competition start.
Unlike last month’s Winter Olympics which had four separate venues to accommodate the most spread-out Games in history, the Paralympics opening ceremony was held only in Verona.
Russia and Belarus were represented by just two athletes each, after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) last week invited 10 Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags at the Games.
Ukraine were joined by Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in their boycott.
Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but had been sanctioned since the 2014 Sochi Games due to the country’s state-sponsored doping program.
The countries’ athletes then transitioned to individual neutral athletes at the 2024 Paris Games.
Severely disrupted global air travel following the US’s joint military strikes with Israel on Iran over the weekend only compounded the ceremony’s attendance woes.
Iran’s sole Paralympian Abolfazl Khatibi Mianaei was forced to withdraw from the Games just hours before the opening ceremony as the cross-country skier could not travel safely to Italy, the IPC said.
Giovanni Malago, the head of the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic organising committee, called for peace in his address at the opening ceremony, but was not specific.
“Of course, we cannot ignore that these Games take place in a deeply divided world, torn apart by (the) worst grief and suffering at one of the most dramatic turning points of our time,” Malago said in Verona.
“For this reason, the message of peace, inclusion and solidarity at the heart of the Olympic and Paralympic movement is more meaningful and more important than ever.”
Pre-recorded footage of countries’ larger squads was projected into the venue, with Australia represented by just three athletes of its 14-person team in Verona.
Alpine skier Georgia Gunew led Australia on her Paralympic debut, with fellow flag bearer Ben Tudhope opting out of the ceremony due to snowboard cross beginning the following day.
Tudhope is out to claim an elusive gold medal at his fourth Paralympic appearance, after his bronze in para snowboard was Australia’s only medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Forced to give up hockey because of her diminishing vision just eight years ago, Gunew was joined at the opening ceremony by guide Ethan Jackson and fellow alpine skier Liana France.
France, 16, is Australia’s youngest female winter Paralympian.
Contemporary art was the main attraction at the ceremony, with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland and Italian house music producers Meduza performing in tribute to the event’s “Life in Motion”.
AAP