‘We are in shock’: Russian Paralympic athletes expelled from world sports for ‘violating ceasefire’

The International Paralympic Committee held an extraordinary plenary session in Berlin and suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee’s membership in the organization.

While 64 delegates supported this decision, 39 delegates against it and 16 abstained.

The IPC explained its sanctions by the fact that the Russian organization violated the Olympic Armistice and could no longer fulfill its obligations under the charter.

Now the RPC has been stripped of all its rights in the organization and can only appeal, it will do that too.

RPC President Pavel Rozhkov said the IPC had not presented any evidence of a violation of the Olympic Armistice and therefore its decision was “illegal and devoid of any legal basis”.

“Neither the RCC, neither the athletes nor the coaches can in principle violate the Olympic truce and therefore cannot be held responsible,” Rozhkov told TASS.

— IPC applies a double standard. The RPC intends to send an open letter to the UN, the IOC and international non-governmental human rights organizations for the disabled, calling on the IPC to prevent discrimination against Russian athletes with disabilities at the national level.”

Russian athletes are unable to participate in international tournaments and the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games selection has already started without them. Therefore, they will almost certainly miss the Games.

The champion of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, world record holder in the shot put, Denis Gnezdilov, admitted in an interview with socialbites.ca that he was surprised by Russia’s dismissal.

“Of course there were hopes, we believed until the end that the decision would be in our direction.

We were upset, we were in shock yesterday. Now I came to training – no mood and no desire. We need to somehow rebuild ourselves and continue further education.

When will the attitude towards Russian athletes change? Yes, I have no idea. I do not and will not enter politics, and I will not express my opinion on this matter.

Of course, I would like things to end for the better and finally be accepted as regular athletes. It remains only to perform in Russia, to compete with the results of foreigners, to equal them or to do better than they showed in the international arena, ”Gnezdilov concluded.

Dmitry Svishchev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, condemned the IPC in an interview with socialbites.ca, emphasizing that athletes cannot influence events in the world.

“A completely unfair, unlawful and unreasonable decision driven by the International Paralympic Committee. Moreover, if you look at the voting results, this decision was not clear, but many countries voted under pressure.

I have no idea what the Paralympics have to do with what’s going on in the world. Guys, and that’s why life is hard.

Through suffering, suffering, they achieve sports results, train daily and dream of participating in competitions. So the IPC showed immaturity in decision making today.

Words cannot describe what they did! Then it is not clear how to look into the eyes of our athletes, whom they were deprived of the right to work, ”said Svishchev.

At the same time, the chairman of the State Duma committee believes that it is quite realistic to appeal the decision of the IPC.

“If the issue is not biased and politicized, it can and should be resolved through a court of law. Declaring that the practice of professional activities is hindered.

Today, we see that the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) is unfortunately not a self-sufficient institution. In many of its decisions, it acts on the views of the IOC, IPC, International Federations and sponsors. Unfortunately, I cannot say that CAS can protect the interests of our athletes. But I think in many countries the courts of law can give fair decisions.”

This isn’t the first time the International Paralympic Committee has suspended a Russian. This first happened in 2016 due to a large-scale doping scandal.

Then the Paralympics missed the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro and were admitted to the Paralympics in Pyeongchang 2018 with a limited number and neutral flag.

In 2019, the IPC conditionally reinstated RPC membership and admitted the team to the Tokyo Games with neutral status. The Russian national team subsequently won 36 gold, 33 silver and 49 bronze medals.

However, as early as 2022, Russian Paralympic athletes were not allowed to re-enter the Paralympic Games – this time in Beijing – due to a special operation in Ukraine.