The 12th Paralympic Winter Games have started in Pyeongchang (Republic of Korea), where Russian athletes compete in a neutral status

As you know, our athletes were not admitted to the Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 due to violations of anti-doping rules. Therefore, admission to the 2018 Winter Paralymiad can be seen as an unconditional step forward. This was noted shortly before the Games in Korea and the President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Andrew Parsons, who recognized the significant progress in the fight against doping, for the purity of sport in our country.

Russian Paralympic athletes are now tested regularly and are among the most scrutinized athletes in the world," he said. - Under WADA's watch, we are now even more confident that the anti-doping system in Russia is no longer compromised or corrupt. We have also witnessed behavioral and cultural changes that we hope will one day have a positive impact on officials in the Russian Federation.

But it is premature to talk about any fundamental changes in the status of our para-athletes and the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC). The reason is the same: failure to fulfill two points out of 67. That is, we have fulfilled 65 criteria for restoring the RPC's membership in the IPC, but we have not fulfilled two. What are these points? Yes, the well-known ones: the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). And also - the official recognition of the so-called McLaren report. Interestingly, both points are not within the direct competence of the RPC.

Despite this, Russian Paralympians made the decision to compete in the Games as their fellow Olympians did.

Despite our neutral status," the RPC Athletes' Commission said in a statement, "each of our opponents will know which country we represent, whose flag flies in our hearts, and whose anthem we will actually hear when standing on the podium.

And on the first day of the Games, they stood on that pedestal! Our women. Ekaterina Rumyantseva In the 6 km biathlon race, she was one of the last to start and, as a result, beat everyone. Including her teammate, the experienced Anna Milenina, who won the silver medal. For Anna, this is the fourth Games where she has won a medal.

And among the visually impaired in the same race there was no equal for Mikhalina Lysova, who, by the way, was admitted to the Games only three days before the start (!).
It is only regrettable that our male skiers and biathletes, who made the biggest contribution to the medal count at previous Paralympics, will not be able to support the women's heroic initiative.

The sanctions also affected hockey players (sledge hockey). These are serious losses, which, most likely, will not allow us to claim the highest places in the unofficial team standings (so far we are in 7th place: 2 gold and 1 silver medal). The USA (4-3-2), France (3-2-1) and Slovakia (3-1-1) are ahead of us.

For athletes who did not make it to the Games, the Open All-Russian competitions in sledge hockey, cross-country skiing and biathlon will be held. According to Pavel Rozhkov, the first vice-president of the Russian Paralympic Committee, the prizes will be the same as for the medalists of the Pyeongchang Paralympics. However, they will be limited to one-time bonuses only, regardless of the number of medals won.

Yuri Davydov-Zavada