Valerii Sushkevych, President of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine, has reported that the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) banned Ukrainian athletes from wearing a kit featuring a map of Ukraine at the 2026 Winter Paralympics.
  • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    13·
    3 days ago

    It wasn’t clear if that is just a blanket rule for all countries or not. It would have been funny if they made up a kit where it was a more accurate map of Ukraine, but only came together with 3 or 4 athletes standing together in the right order.

    • rockerface🇺🇦@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      13·
      3 days ago

      Considering they allow russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags, I see no reason why they should forbid anyone from expressing their national identity. If the map of Ukraine is somehow a point of contention for some other team, maybe that team should not compete

      • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.clubEnglish
        37·
        3 days ago

        The problem is that the map features a contested border.

        It would be like Pakistan or India showing up wearing a map of their countries which show they annexed all of Jammu & Kashmir. It isn’t just an expression of national identity at that point.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    18·
    3 days ago

    Then don’t go. There are bigger things in life and at this point even the Olympics are oozing billionaire money

    • rockerface🇺🇦@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      10·
      3 days ago

      Sushkevych previously stated that Ukrainian Paralympians would not boycott the Games, as that would only play into Vladimir Putin’s hands.

      They did consider the option, though

    • Horsey@lemmy.world
      3·
      3 days ago

      Horse events are really the only sports with billionaire energy lol. Ask me how much those horses are insured for.