At the Paralympics:

Austria boycotts the opening ceremony

On Tuesday, flag bearers Veronika Aigner and Markus Salcher were filmed with the team in Cortina. These images will be shown on television during the Paralympics opening ceremony. But no member of the Austrian team will be present in the amphitheater in Verona.(Bild: GEPA)

On Friday, the XIV Paralympic Winter Games MILANO CORTINA 2026 will open in Verona. After several discussions, the Austrian Paralympic Committee (ÖPC) decided to join the boycott of several nations and not to send any athletes or team members to the opening ceremony.

The fact is that, following the resumption of the IPC General Assembly in the fall, six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete in Italy wearing their national colors and with their flag and anthem, despite Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. Many nations are unhappy about this. Politics is currently playing a much bigger role than sport in the run-up to the Paralympics.

On Wednesday, ÖPC President Maria Rauch-Kallat had said in this context: "We don't want to drag our athletes into foreign policy. The past has shown that boycotts do not serve sport." However, after many discussions, there was a U-turn on Thursday evening.

ÖPC President Maria Rauch-Kallat(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

A sign for Ukraine
"We very much hope to send a visible signal to Ukraine. At the IPC General Assembly, we voted against the readmission of the Russian and Belarusian committees, but had to support the democratic decision. After several discussions, it became clear that boycotting the opening ceremony in this case could send a clear signal of solidarity with Ukraine," explained Maria Rauch-Kallat.

With para-skier Michael Scharnagl and para-snowboarder Markus Schmidhofer, only two Austrian athletes and two officials (Patrick Mayrhofer, Chef de Mission, and team manager Larissa Mayrhofer) would have traveled to the opening ceremony anyway.

Currently, 14 nations will not be attending the opening ceremony. But not all of them are officially talking about a boycott. Some nations are also citing the long journey to Verona and the unnecessary strain on the athletes before the competitions as reasons for their absence.

Austrian flag bearers Veronika Aigner and Markus Salcher will still be seen on television at the opening ceremony on Friday.(Bild: GEPA)

A volunteer will still carry the Austrian flag into the Arena di Verona. The pre-recorded segment featuring the Paralympic Team Austria with flag bearers Veronika Aigner and Markus Salcher will be shown on TV during the opening ceremony. Therefore, it is not a 100% boycott.

TV chaos looms
Friday's television broadcast could be chaotic internationally. Several TV stations in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Poland have announced that they will not broadcast the opening ceremony or will interrupt their coverage as soon as Russian or Belarusian athletes appear on screen.

The Polish television station Telewizja Polska (TVP) is going even further and plans to interrupt its broadcasts throughout the Games as soon as athletes from Russia or Belarus appear on screen. These drastic measures are an unprecedented response to the IPC's decision and are intended to send a message of protest. It is likely that this issue will continue and overshadow the entire Games.

The reinstatement of Russia and Belarus is dividing the Paralympic family.(Bild: AP/Pavel Golovkin)

Nevertheless, Maria Rauch-Kallat says: "We hope that this will also put an end to the discussion on this issue and that over the next ten days, all attention will be focused on sport and fair competition." 

Olympic peace has been broken again
That will be difficult. After all, there is also the war in Iran, which for the third time in twelve years is thwarting the Olympic truce, which is supposed to last until after the Paralympics. During the Olympic Games, the world's powerful leaders abide by the truce, but before the Paralympics, everything is forgotten. In 2014, Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea before the Games for disabled athletes in Sochi, and before the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing, Putin's troops began their war of aggression against Ukraine. And now Israel and the US have attacked Iran.