Today, Thursday 3rd March 2022, the IPC has finally seen sense and bowed to growing pressure to withdraw Russian and Belarusian Paralympic athletes from the Winter Games. Action of this kind is not intended to vilify individual athletes or sporting bodies, (Jeremy Clarkson, with your aggressive and divisive tweet about the Russian racing driver, Nikita Mazepin, please take note), but it is intended to demonstrate that the world is adopting a united stand with regard to events in Ukraine, that it stands against tyranny and in total solidarity with the people of that country. No one denies that sport can be a power for good in the world, that inclusion is better than exclusion or that the IOC and IPC‘s assertion that the promotion of peace between nations, a fundamental tenet of their charter, is not a noble ambition. But these are exceptional circumstances which call for a strength of leadership and a unity of approach by governing bodies throughout the world of sport and beyond.

Thank you to those that signed.

Ben Galloway