Russian and Belarusian athletes banned from competing at the Paralympics

Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be able to compete at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) says.

«Following a specially convened meeting, the IPC governing board has decided to refuse the athlete entries from the RPC and NPC Belarus for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games,» the IPC said in a statement. 

The about-face comes less than 24 hours after the IPC announced it would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete when the Games open on Friday, but only as neutrals with colours, flags and other national symbols removed. 

The IPC received immediate criticism for its initial decision, before saying it was evident that many athletes would refuse to compete against Russians or Belarusians, creating chaos for the Paralympics and damaging the Games' reputation.

IPC president Andrew Parsons, in announcing the initial measures on Wednesday in a Beijing news conference, sympathised openly with the Ukrainian people but said his actions were constrained by his organisation's rules and the fear of legal action.

Parsons said almost the opposite in announcing his reversal a day later, noting his constituents had pushed back.

«In the last 12 hours, an overwhelming number of members have been in touch with us,» Parsons said in a statement.

«They have told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences.

»What is clear is that the rapidly escalating situation has now put us in a unique and impossible position so close to the start of the Games."

Parsons also addressed the Russian and Belarusian athletes.

«To para-athletes from the impacted countries, we are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in