Alexander GovorovCorrespondent SportAll materialsThe decision of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from participation in the Games in Beijing is beyond the scope of adequacy. The horror is that our guys the day before were allowed to start in a neutral status. What is this, if not another provocation and mockery against Russia? Athletes are allowed, but can compete without national symbols. However, in less than a day, a huge number of countries turned to the IPC with a demand to immediately exclude Russia and Belarus from the number of participants in the Paralympics. And in the course was the real blackmail. Foreigners threatened that they would refuse to participate in the event of Russian and Belarusian presence in them. Of course, there were no legal reasons not to allow our Paralympians to the Games in Beijing. But the IPC decided that it was easier for them to bend under pressure from the West than to follow the rules. The symbol of fair competition and sporting principle, which is so actively promoted in the IOC and IPC, has now been completely destroyed. This is a huge blow to our Paralympic athletes who have already arrived in China and were ready to start. Why couldn't they have been told this beforehand? A lot of money was spent on preparation, logistics, charters were ordered. It is very likely that the decision to deny admission was made on purpose in order to inflict even more pressure psychologically.
