For the first time in more than a decade, Russian athletes will compete under their country’s flag at the Paralympic Games, and the gold medalist will be sung to his country’s national anthem.
Tuesday’s announcement is another indicator that Russia and its national identity will be fully restored in the Olympic world ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The International Paralympic Committee announced in a statement that the Russian National Paralympic Committee has secured six spots for the upcoming Milan-Cortina Paralympic Games.
This will be the first time the Russian flag will be flown at the Paralympic Games since the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia. The country’s athletes were initially suspended for a state-sponsored doping program, and sanctions against Russia have been in place since the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
If the Paralympic athletes win the gold medal, it will be the first time since the invasion that the Russian national anthem will be played on stage at a major global sporting event.
Russia’s close ally Belarus is also suspended from 2022, but Milan Cortina will be given four spots.
“The IPC has confirmed that NPC Russia has won a total of six spots: two spots in para-alpine skiing (one male and one female), two spots in para-cross-country skiing (one male and one female) and two spots in para-snowboarding (both male),” the statement said.
“NPC Belarus was awarded a total of four spots in the cross-country ski category (one male and three female).”
In September, the IPC resolved to lift partial suspensions against Russia and Belarus.
However, IPC president Andrew Parsons told The Associated Press in November that athletes from those countries would not participate in the Milan-Cortina Games as the sport’s governing body maintained the ban.
The following month, following an appeal from Russia, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a blanket ban imposed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, paving the way for Russians to compete as neutral athletes at the 2026 Olympics and with their own flag and anthem at the Paralympics.
The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended from 2023 by the International Olympic Committee for violating the Olympic Charter by using administrative land grabs to incorporate regional sports organizations in occupied eastern Ukraine.
The decision is under legal review by the IOC and could be overturned in the coming months after Russia’s Olympic body revised its rules.
Following the system to be used in Paris 2024, Russian athletes are competing at the current Olympics as neutral individual athletes without a flag, national anthem or team colors, using the French acronym AIN.
According to Russian media reports, three-time alpine skier and Paralympic champion Alexei Bugaev is one of the athletes given a spot along with world championship medal-winning cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasia Bagian.
All three returned to competition last month, and Bugaev and Bagian have both won World Cup titles since then.
The Milan-Cortina Paralympic Games will be held from March 6th to 15th.
