The Belarus team carried Russia’s flag as well as their own at the Paralympic Games opening ceremony, in a show of support for their near-neighbours, who were banned from the competition in Rio de Janeiro.
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An IPC statement on Thursday read: “The IPC on Thursday (September 8) morning cancelled the accreditation of the individual who carried the Russian flag as part of the Belarus delegation during last night’s opening ceremony”.
Russian Federation were excluded from the event by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) because of a state-sponsored sports doping program.
The Paralympic Games already has its first political protest, right at the beginning with the opening ceremony.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) say that it was a political gesture, which are not allowed at Olympic and Paralympic games.
Russia’s Paralympic Committee head Vladimir Lukin enthused: “During this hard period, he remembered us”.
Natalya Eismont, a spokeswoman for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, said it was not a spontaneous gesture.
“If they continue to break the rules, we will look at some other form of action”, Spence said.
“I can only thank our Belarusian colleague, an athlete, but unfortunately I don’t know his name”, he told TASS.
Russian Paralympic Committee President Vladimir Lukin has expressed his gratitude to the Belarusian.
Last month, the Belarusian Paralympic delegation informed IPC that it meant to carry the Russian flag alongside the Belarusian flag at the opening ceremony, but the world’s governing body of Paralympic sports replied with a refusal.
“It’s very good that the Belarusian remembered about the closest country to them – Russian Federation”.
Yet the nation received support from a neighbouring country on Wednesday as an individual from the Belarus party marched with a Russian flag.
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“If we have to bear responsibility for this, we will”, Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman Dmitry Mironchik said.
