Last night the Belarusian Paralympians returned home.
At Minsk Airport they were given a warm welcome and presented with a cake, on which, apart from the 2016 Paralympic Games logo, the Russian tricolor next to the Belarusian national flag was seen. Belsat TV journalist Nastassia Khralovich posted the photo of the cake on Facebook.
Russia was banned from competing in the 2016 Paralympic Games due to the doping scandal. The report on Russia’s state-sponsored programme of cheating made by WADA for the World Anti-Doping Agency was taken into account.
At the opening ceremony, the Russian flag was unfolded by Andrei Fomachkin (53-year-old sports functionary, director of the Republican Center of Olympic preparation in athletics) in solidarity with the Russian Paralympians who had not been admitted to the Games. Later the flag was taken away from him.
Since it was a ‘one-man protest’, there were no sanctions for the Belarusian team.
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