Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned from the 2022 Winter Olympics following a U-turn by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The IPC announced on Wednesday that the two nations were set to compete in Beijing, albeit under the Paralympic flag and without being included in the medal table.
That was despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC) calling for athletes from Russia and Belarus to be prevented from taking part in all international sporting competitions.
However, just a day before the Games are due to begin, the IPC has reversed its decision amid fierce backlash and threats of boycotts.
It means 83 athletes will now no longer be able to compete in the nine-day event, including a 71-strong team from Russia.
IPC president Andrew Parsons said in a statement on Thursday: "At the IPC we are very firm believers that sport and politics should not mix. However, by no fault of its own the war has now come to these Games and behind the scenes many governments are having an influence on our cherished event.
"The IPC is a membership-based organisation, and we are receptive to the views of our member organisations. When our members elected the board in December 2021 it was to maintain and uphold the principles, values, and rules of the Paralympic Movement.
"As board members that is a responsibility and duty we take extremely seriously. In taking our decision yesterday we were looking at the long-term health and survival of the Paralympic Movement.
"We are fiercely proud of the principles and values that have made the Movement what it is today. However, what is clear is that the rapidly escalating situation has now put us in a unique and impossible position so close to the start of the Games."
The new announcement comes a week on from Russia invading Ukraine, with neighbouring Belarus effectively used as a staging post for part of the advance.
A joint statement from Ukrainian athletes and the Global Athlete group condemned the IPC's original ruling on Wednesday, accusing the governing body of issuing "another blow" to every Ukrainian athlete and citizen.
Parsons explained that the situation in the athletes' village had become "untenable", leading to the surprise U-turn on the eve of the event.
"Yesterday we said we would continue to listen, and that is what we are doing," he said. "In the last 12 hours an overwhelming number of members have been in touch with us and been very open, for which I am grateful.
"They have told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. Multiple NPCs, some of which have been contacted by their governments, teams and athletes, are threatening not to compete.
"Ensuring the safety and security of athletes is of paramount importance to us and the situation in the athlete villages is escalating and has now become untenable.
"In order to preserve the integrity of these Games and the safety of all participants, we have decided to refuse the athlete entries from RPC and NPC Belarus.
"To the Para athletes from the impacted countries, we are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic Truce. You are victims of your governments' actions.
"Athlete welfare is and always will be a key concern for us. As a result of today's decision 83 Para athletes are directly impacted by this decision. However, if RPC and NPC Belarus remain here in Beijing then nations will likely withdraw. We will likely not have a viable Games. If this were to happen, the impact would be far wider reaching.
"I hope and pray that we can get back to a situation when the talk and focus is fully on the power of sport to transform the lives of persons with disabilities, and the best of humanity."
The World Athletics Council announced on Tuesday that athletes from Russia and Belarus will be excluded from all World Athletics Series events for the foreseeable future.
A number of other sporting federations, including FIFA and UEFA, have also banned teams and athletes from Belarus and Russia.
Jamaica set to host inaugural Commonwealth Sports GAPS Camp in the Americas to benefit Para-Athletes and coaches
The Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) and the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Sport, in partnership with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) on Thursday staged the launch of the inaugural GAPS (Gather, Adjust, Prepare, Sustain) Americas & Caribbean Programme to be held in Kingston, Jamaica from April 16 to 22, 2024.
This historic collaboration with the Jamaica Paralympic Association and the University of the West Indies has been realized, thanks to support from the President of the Jamaica Commonwealth Games Association and through the Memorandum of Understanding with the Jamaica Paralympic Association and the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Sport. During this inaugural year the programme will focus on the sport of Para-Athletics.
“This is a very special day for us because usually, multi-organization collaborations take a long time to come to fruition but every time we work with the Jamaica Paralympic Association, things happen very fast,” said Dean of the Faculty of Sport at UWI, Dr. Akshai Mansingh at Thursday’s launch at the University of the West Indies.
“Para-Athletes are, in my view, some of the most talented athletes in the country,” he added.
GAPS is a programme offered by the CGF which aims to advance inclusive sport pathways by offering athletes and coaches additional skills, knowledge and resources that help them to become a catalyst for positive social change and strengthens the Commonwealth Family bond.
“I want to celebrate the fact that we now have the first ever GAPS camp in the Americas and the Caribbean,” remarked Commonwealth Games Federation President, Dr. Chris Jenkins, who was a virtual attendee on Thursday.
This is a fantastic milestone. We’ve been working hard for a couple of years now and it’s finally happening. I’ve been to many GAPS camps and they’ve been truly inspirational,” he added.
One of the main outcomes of the programme is to increase the number of countries participating at the Commonwealth Games.
GAPS aims to address some of the unique challenges faced by para-sport athletes from the Americas & Caribbean region through a partnership programme that educates coaches, identifies talent, undertakes skill development camps, provides international internships and enables research opportunities.
“I applaud the Commonwealth Games Federation and its President, Dr. Chris Jenkins, for their vision in enabling the able with a difference. I also salute the Faculty of Sport at the University of the West Indies for realizing this vision and affording our para-athletes an opportunity to self-actualize,” said Jamaica Paralympic Association President, Christopher Samuda.
The GAPS Americas & Caribbean 2024 acknowledges the fundamental role the coaches play in the development of the athletes. Their development forms the foundational element of the programme.
The programme is designed to build a sustainable pathway for para sport development across the Commonwealth.
The selection of the coach and athlete(s) are central to ensuring that the programme delivers on this goal and equally position the Commonwealth Games Associations to realize the dream of increasing or realizing representation of their athletes at the Commonwealth Games.
For the GAPS Americas & Caribbean 2024 programme, special emphasis at present, will be placed on the sport of Para athletics, with the view to expanding this to more sports in the near future.
Lack of funding for deaf swimmers is ‘completely isolating a whole disability’
One of the UK’s fastest deaf swimmers has spent more than 1,000 days campaigning against “discriminatory” policies that deny him funding.
Nathan Young, a holder of seven national records, is not entitled to any Government or National Lottery money to support his ambitions.
The reason is that UK Sport, the agency which allocates funding on behalf of those entities, is focused solely on Olympic and Paralympic sports.
As deafness on its own is not a discipline in the Paralympics, Wirral-based Young, 24, falls outside its criteria.
He is eligible to compete in the Deaflympics – the multi-sport event for deaf athletes sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee – but Great Britain does not financially back its entrants, unlike some other countries.
The only central funding available for solely deaf athletes is at grassroots level, with nothing for elite competitors such as Young.
That has left him needing to work and fundraise alongside his training to ensure he is able to meet the huge outlay needed to compete on the global stage.
For most of the last three years, he has also spent a large amount of his time running a campaign to get the parameters for funding changed, believing the current rules to be unfair.
“At the end of the day it’s discrimination,” said Young, whose campaign passed the 1,000-day mark in February.
“It’s completely isolating a whole disability. If I was a Paralympic swimmer, I would have been getting paid since I was 16 or 17. It could have been a career that I could have had.
“Right now, I train, I go to the gym but all the other things I should be getting as what you would class as an elite athlete, I don’t get any of it.
“Others have the best treatment available to them to keep them going mentally, physically and in every aspect. I should be getting physio, doing strength and conditioning but I get none of that.
“When I’m training right now, I’m thinking I should be working. It’s not what I should be thinking about.”
Young’s campaigning has involved giving numerous speeches and interviews as well as writing many letters and articles. He has also contacted MPs and, as part of a wider campaign with UK Deaf Sport, has even visited Parliament.
With UK Sport funding for recent Olympic/Paralympic cycles being around £300million, it is a source of frustration for Young that not even a relatively small amount can be found for Deaflympians.
“What we’re asking for is so little,” said Young, who might need to find around £3,000 to fund a trip to next year’s Deaflympics in Tokyo.
“UK Deaf Sport only asked for £4million for us (deaf athletes), which is so little when there’s £300-and-something million for Olympic and Paralympic sport.
“We’re getting the same responses. We keep pushing it and pushing it but it’s been over 1,000 days now and it’s been an exhausting journey.”
A UK Sport statement read: “UK Sport’s remit is specifically focused on investing in sports and athletes who are eligible to compete at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“The Deaflympics falls outside of Olympic and Paralympic sport. We are therefore unable to fund athletes targeting this event.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “This Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including deaf people.
“Sport England has committed £1.2million between 2022 and 2027 to boost deaf sport at the grassroots level through widening participation and supporting the development pathway for talented athletes.”
Jamaica Paralympic Association hosts regional sports training in Boccia and Track & Field
The Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) will be hosting the Regional Sports Training for Boccia, and Track and Field, scheduled for March 13 -15, 2024.
The training, to be conducted under the guidance and expertise of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), is designed to provide technical and skills-training support to top para-athletes and their coaches, technical staff and referees.
Attendees will come from Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, and Barbados Bermuda, Grenada, Guyana Haiti, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the US Virgin Islands.
The objective is to effectively prepare participants for representing their countries in future competitions.
“Historic,” was the word used to describe the initiative by Jamaica Paralympic Association President, Christopher Samuda.
“It is the first time an IPC training session for coaches and technical officials in two sports is being held simultaneously in the Caribbean for regional stakeholders,” Samuda said at a press conference at the Jamaica Olympic Association headquarters in Kingston on Friday.
“Where is this leading us? Establishing Jamaica as a hub for regional and international technical training and capacity building and the forum next month will be a driver,” he added.
The activities will conclude with the Velocity Fest on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at the National Stadium, where athletes will showcase their newly acquired skills.
This will also be the first time in the history of the Paralympic movement that a world certified technical official will preside over the meet. That world certified technical official is Sodia Peters.
“This has always been a dream of mine and to see it become a reality, I am very happy. I’m very elated to represent Jamaica at the highest level,” said the World Para-Athletics Technical Delegate.
“I want to be the first of many and I want to impart the knowledge that I’ve garnered to ensure that we are living up to the international standards here in Jamaica, not only producing world class athletes but we need world class officials, technical delegates and coaches in Jamaica as well,” she added.
This will be the second consecutive year that para-athletes will be competing at the Velocity Fest.
More than 20 para-athletes will be participating in the meet in areas such as long jump, shot put, the sprints and the 400m.
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