Athletes have competed as Independent Paralympians at the Paralympic Games for various reasons, including political transition,

international sanctions International sanctions are political and economic decisions that are part of diplomatic efforts by countries, multilateral or regional organizations against states or organizations either to protect national security interests, or to protect i ...

, suspensions of National Paralympic Committees and compassion.

1992 Winter and Summer Paralympics

Independent Paralympic Participants at the Summer Paralympics was the name given to athletes from the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

at the

1992 Summer Paralympics )( es, Deporte Sin Límites) , nations = 82 (BCN)75 (MAD) , athletes = 3,020 (BCN)1,600 (MAD) , opened_by = Queen Sofía , opening = 3 September (BCN)15 September (MAD) , closing = 14 September (BCN)22 September (MAD) , eve ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Athletes from the parts of Yugoslavia still terming themselves "Yugoslavia" had competed as "

Independent Olympic Participants Athletes have competed as independent Olympians at the Olympic Games for various reasons, including political transition, international sanctions, suspensions of National Olympic Committees, and compassion. Independent athletes have come fro ...

" at the 1992 Summer Olympics, also hosted by Barcelona. They were not permitted to participate as "

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

", due to

United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 United Nations Security Council resolution 757 was adopted on 30 May 1992. After reaffirming resolutions 713 (1991), 721 (1991), 724 (1991), 727 (1992), 740 (1992) 743 (1992), 749 (1992) and 752 (1992), the Council condemned the failure of the au ...

placing sanctions on the country. In addition, 16 athletes competed as

Independent Paralympic Participants Independent Paralympic participants were athletes from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona. Athletes from the parts of Yugoslavia still terming themselves "Yugoslavia" had competed as "independent Olympi ...

at the

winning eight medals.

2000 Summer Paralympics

Two athletes competed as Individual Paralympic Athletes at the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

2016 Summer Paralympics

Like for the Olympics, a team of refugees has competed for the first time as Independent Paralympic Athletes at the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

2018 Winter Paralympics

Russia is currently suspended by the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and func ...

, so status remains unclear due to the state-sponsored doping program scandal. The Russian Paralympic Committee remains suspended from the Paralympic movement since 2016, due to the state-sponsored doping programme scandal, but the

has allowed athletes deemed clean to participate in five sports. They will compete under the Paralympic flag, and the

Paralympic anthem The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

will be used during ceremonies for those who win gold medals.

2020 Summer Paralympics

A Refugee Paralympic Team (following the model used by the IOC for its sponsored olympic team since 2016), is separated at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paraly ...

from the former Independent Paralympic Athletes. The Russian Paralympic Committee, still suspended from the IPC and the IOC, was allowed to propose athletes, no longer competing as "independent" or "neutral" paralympians, but still with the supervision of the IPC. However, they did not compete under the name and with the national flag and anthem of Russia, but under the acronym RPC and with the Paralympic flag and anthem.

2022 Winter Paralympics

Athletes from Russia were scheduled to compete at the 2022 Winter Paralympics as Neutral Paralympic Athletes and athletes from Belarus as Paralympic Neutral Athletes. On 3 March 2022, both nations' athletes were banned from competing, reversing the previous decision to allow them to compete as neutrals. Russian athletes were previously scheduled to compete under the flag of the Russian Paralympic Committee as a result of doping-related sanctions. On 9 December 2019, the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

(WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for a period of four years, after the Russian government was found to have tampered with lab data that it provided to WADA in January 2019 as a condition of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency being reinstated. On 26 April 2021, it was confirmed Russian athletes would represent the Russian Paralympic Committee, with the acronym 'RPC', at the

and the 2022 Winter Paralympics. The Russian Paralympic Committee delegation was banned from participating in the

2022 Winter Paralympics The 2022 Winter Paralympics (), commonly known as Beijing 2022 (), was an international winter multi-sport parasports event held in Beijing, China from 4 to 13 March 2022. This was the 13th Winter Paralympic Games, as administered by the Inter ...

after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in violation of the Olympic Truce. On 2 March 2022, the

(IPC) decided that Belarusian and Russian athletes would be allowed to compete at the Games as neutral athletes with their results not counting in the medal standings. The athletes would still have received medals during ceremonies. As a result of criticism by several National Paralympic Committees, who threatened to boycott the Games, the IPC announced on 3 March 2022 that they would reverse their earlier decision, banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the 2022 Winter Paralympics. Before being banned from the Winter Paralymics, 71 athletes from Russia were expected to compete. The athletes were scheduled to compete in all sports included in the programme of the Games. In total, 12 athletes from Belarus were expected to compete. Pavel Rozhkov, who served as interim Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) president in 2021, served as

Chef de Mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, permanent ...

of the Russian delegation. In total, the Russian delegation consisted of ten alpine skiers, 33 skiers in biathlon and cross-country skiing, six snowboarders and the para ice hockey and wheelchair curling teams.

References

Citations

Sources

* {{Nations at the Paralympics Independent athletes