The Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 just finished on February 20. Olympians from all over the world competed on the grandest sporting stage in the world. Now, it’s time for Paralympians to do the same at the Beijing Winter Paralympics 2022.

The Beijing Winter Paralympics will commence from March 4 and will continue for nine whole days. Needless to say, the Paralympics are just as important as the Olympics, inspiring differently-abled people across the world to dream big and stop at nothing.

Among all other countries and their teams, the International Paralympic Committee is yet to approve the Russian Paralympic team for competition.

Russian Paralympics’ future at Beijing Winter Paralympics 2022 unclear

Despite political tensions rising throughout the world, the Beijing Winter Paralympics 2022 will go ahead. In that vein, the International Paralympic Committee previously allowed Russian athletes to compete at the games.

Thus, a team of seventy-one Russian athletes will form the Russian Paralympic Committee, and they hope to compete at the upcoming Paralympics. Even though the International Olympic Committee condemned Russia’s breach of the Olympic truce, the IPC had allowed Russian Paralympians to compete.

However, owing to political and armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the IPC could reverse their decision. As it currently stands, the International Paralympic Committee will decide Russian athletes’ participation in the 2022 Paralympics.

The IPC is holding talks with officials from both nations amidst the ongoing crisis. Owing to calls for blanket bans on Russian athletes, the president of the International Olympic Committee urged the IPC chief to oblige.

Thus, the IPC decided to hold discussions regarding the decision on March 2, which is two days before the Paralympics start.

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Thus, with the games less than a week away, the International Paralympic Committee made a statement regarding the matter. “As a politically neutral organization,” they stated, “the IPC?s focus remains on the upcoming Games rather than the ongoing situation”.

What is the Olympic Truce?

The concept of the Olympic Truce dates back to the ninth century BC in ancient Greece. It allowed safe participation in the ancient Olympic Games for all Olympic athletes between states. Otherwise, the states used to almost always stay in conflict.

As times evolved, the International Olympic Committee decided to revive the tradition in the context of the new world. Thus, in a world where political conflict and the Olympics co-exist, the Olympic Truce became all the more relevant.

According to the terms of the truce, all Olympic nations must observe peace starting seven days ahead of all Olympic games. Moreover, they must keep the truce intact until another week after the Paralympics end.

Thus, in light of the recent political conflict that has the world stunned, the IOC, as well as the IPC, condemned the Russian Federation’s breaking of the truce. What are your opinions about the same?

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