Polish officials to boycott Paralympics opening ceremony over inclusion of Russian athletes

Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s government has announced that it will boycott the opening ceremony of the upcoming Winter Paralympics in Italy in response to Russian and Belarusian athletes being allowed to compete in the games under their national flags.

“In the face of ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine, the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in sports competitions using their flags and anthems is absolutely unacceptable,” wrote the sports ministry.

“In connection with the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete…using their national symbols, representatives of the ministry…will not participate in the opening ceremony of the games,” they added.

The head of the Polish Paralympic Committee on Wednesday told Polsat News that his organisation was also considering a boycott of the opening ceremony. He called the IPC’s decision “scandalous” and the result of Russian lobbying.

In 2022, Russia and Belarus were banned from the Beijing Paralympics, which began shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The following year, the measures were softened to allow the two countries’ para-athletes to compete as “neutrals”, meaning without national symbols such as flags and anthems.

Last year, Russia and Belarus regained full membership rights in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), after a vote by the organisation’s member states to lift their partial suspensions.

That decision, which was jointly condemned by Poland and 32 other countries, opened the way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under national flags.

Finally, on Tuesday this week, the IPC announced that it had now granted permission for six Russian and four Belarusian para-athletes to take part in the upcoming games in Italy, which will take place from 6 to 15 March, under their national colours.

The decision was immediately condemned by Ukraine, whose foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, declared that “allowing the flags of aggressor states to be raised at the Paralympic Games while Russia’s war against Ukraine rages on is wrong — morally and politically”.

He said that Ukraine would urge other countries to boycott the opening ceremony of the games.

The EU’s commissioner for sport, Glenn Micallef, announced on Wednesday that he would not attend the opening ceremony, saying that it was “unacceptable” for Russian national symbols to appear while the country’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues.

Meanwhile, Estonia’s public broadcaster, ERR, has said it will not show events in which the Russian and Belarusian athletes are competing.

Poland has been one of Ukraine’s closest allies since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. It has also strongly opposed allowing Russian athletes to compete in international competition.

Poland was removed as the host of two European junior weightlifting championships this year due to its refusal to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part.

It also recently refused to allow two Russian ski jumpers to enter the country to take part in a World Cup event in Zakopane, although they had been cleared to compete by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: President of the Russian Federation/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY 4.0)

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.