war against Ukraine
Paralympics chief: Exclude Russian athletes
“No ifs or buts, no!” says Friedhelm Julius Beucher about the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international para events. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Russian and Belarusian athletes are not allowed to participate in the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris. According to the German association, this should also be the case at the 2024 Paralympics.
The head of the German association, Friedhelm Julius Beucher, welcomes the current exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from international para events. And he calls for this in the event of a prolonged war for the Paralympics next year Paris.
“No ifs and buts, no! It’s a question of attitude,” said the President of the German Disabled Sports Association of the German Press Agency. “When the war stops, we’ll have a different situation. As long as it’s going on, it’s beyond my imagination.”
With regard to the current Para Athletics World Championships in Paris, he “congratulates” the French government “and especially the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who says: “I don’t want to host Russian and Belarusian athletes if there’s still a war going on “.”
IOC recommends participation under conditions
While the International Olympic Committee recommends its national associations to participate under certain conditions, para-athletes are currently excluded according to a decision by the Paralympic Committee IPC. “And I will work with the German delegation at the IPC Congress in Bahrain at the end of September and fight to keep it that way,” said Beucher, who was chairman of the sports committee in the Bundestag from 1998 to 2002.
IOC requirements include strict neutrality, compliance with the anti-doping code and proof of not actively supporting the war. But that is difficult for Beucher to implement. “There may be athletes who are against it at heart,” he said: “But we don’t do an examination of conscience. I don’t presume to be able to judge that. And neither can the IPC and the IOC.”