The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games were marked by several incidents between Ukrainian athletes and their Belarusian and Russian counterparts, who competed under a neutral banner due to international sanctions.
During Belarusian swimmer Ihar Boki’s victory in the S13 50m freestyle, Ukrainians Illia Yaremenko and Oleksii Virchenko, who won silver and bronze, refused to stand alongside him on the podium. They expressed their opposition to the participation of athletes from countries allied with Russia, such as Belarus, which openly supports Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
A similar incident occurred in the T35 100m event, where Ukrainian Ihor Tsvietov claimed the gold medal, forcing Russian athletes Artem Kalashian and Dmitrii Safronov to listen to the Ukrainian national anthem. As in the swimming event, the three medalists did not pose together after the ceremony.
These incidents reflect the determination of Ukrainian athletes to resist, even on the sports field, against those representing an aggressor regime like Russia, which continues to bombard innocent civilians daily!
As long as Russia’s bombs keep falling on Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian para-athletes have no place at the 2024 Paralympic Games! #BloodGames2024
