Chef de mission Phil Smith says ParalympicsGB were adamant Russian and Belarusian athletes should not be allowed to compete at Beijing 2022 due to the “horrific” events in Ukraine.
Athletes from those countries have been banned from the Winter Games after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) reversed its original ruling to allow them to participate under a neutral flag.
The GB team were in the process of discussing what action they would take to the governing body’s controversial initial decision when the U-turn was announced.
Ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony in the Chinese capital, team leader Smith says the British delegation stands with “our Ukrainian friends” following the ongoing invasion of their homeland.
“Clearly what’s going on in Ukraine currently is horrific and all our sympathies are with the people of Ukraine, no less so than our Ukrainian Paralympic colleagues out here in Beijing,” he told the PA news agency.
“It was ParalympicsGB’s position from the outset that we didn’t believe that Russia or Belarus should have any athletes at the Paralympic Games due to the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
“Obviously we were disappointed yesterday when the IPC made their initial decision and we shared that disappointment publicly and with the IPC, so we welcome the decision today to overturn their original decision and know that Belarusian and Russian athletes will not participate in Beijing 2022.
“We stand with our Ukrainian friends against the horror of what is happening in their homeland and support them at the Games.
“Their athlete delegation only arrived yesterday but we’ve continually offered our support.”
IPC president Andrew Parsons confirmed 83 athletes would now be unable to take part in the Games, adding that the situation in the athletes’ villages had “become untenable”.
Smith said he had not been approached directly by any of Britain’s 24 Paralympians regarding the situation.
Asked how GB would have responded had Russian and Belarusian competitors been permitted to remain, he said: “We hadn’t got to a point where we had made a decision as to what we would do.
It's been a challenging couple of days for everyone and for our friends and colleagues in Ukraine for much longer than that.
“As a hypothetical question, it’s a very difficult one to answer.
“Clearly the welfare, the safety of our athletes is at the forefront of everything we do and I’m just delighted that our athletes will be able to compete.
“It’s been a challenging couple of days for everyone and for our friends and colleagues in Ukraine for much longer than that.
“But here out in Beijing our Paralympics team are ready to go and absolutely we hope that the focus out here for the next 10 days will be on the sport and the incredible achievements of our athletes.
“The mood among the team is great.”
The IPC choice to exclude Russia and Belarus was taken because of the threat of widespread withdrawals from other countries, in addition to safety concerns.
Smith had words of sympathy for the unfortunate athletes departing because of the actions of their governments.
“It’s hard not to have sympathy with any athlete who trains for that length of time, qualifies for a Games and then ultimately isn’t able to take the field of play,” he said.
“But from a British point of view, what we’re concentrating on is our athletes who are going to be out there on the field of play and are ready to go.
“We’ve got a brilliant team and I really think we’ve got the opportunity to do something special and make some amazing memories for the British public to cheer on.”
