Paralympics: Belarus delegate banned after carrying Russian flag at ceremony

The unidentified Belarussian man marched into Rio de Janeiro s Maracana stadium at the back of the Belarus delegation during Wednesday night s opening ceremony, brandishing Russian Federation s white, blue and red flag.

Rio de Janeiro, Sept 9: A member of the Belarus delegation who carried a Russian flag at the Paralympic opening ceremony here Wednesday to support his country’s near-neighbour who are banned from the competition, was stripped of his accreditation, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said here Thursday.

The entire Russian Paralympic team was banned from the Rio Games following a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which accused Russia of state-sponsored doping.

Reports said the Russian flag was confiscated after Fomochkin, who has been identified as the director of the republican center of Olympic training for athletics in Belarus, carried it for some time.

Russia’s National Paralympic Committee subsequently appealed the decision through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) bans political gestures, and the official’s actions violated these rules.

“In this context, the move of our Paralympians is absolutely understandable, and we stand in full solidarity with the Russians”, Natalya Eismont said.

“The fact he was a guest of the president rather than an athlete or coach makes it easier for us to take this action”, IPC spokesman Craig Spence said.

“We check all teams before they go out into the stadium at every single Games, so that flag was pretty well hidden on that person last night because all of Belarus team was searched before they went out and the flag was somewhere on the person that we didn’t notice”.

On Wednesday, the Guardian published an article in which it called the actions of the Belarusian Paralympic team “a mutiny”, “a show of defiance” and a “protest against the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to ban Russian Federation from Rio 2016”. The scandal cost Russian track and field athletes an appearance at the Rio 2016 Olympics and has called into question Russian results spanning several Olympic games.

In Belarus, the Foreign Ministry also commended Fomochkin.