The International Paralympic Committee, Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, and the invasion of Ukraine

The 2nd and 3rd of March 2022 became pivotal 48 hours for the International Paralympic Committee and elite disability sport, in what is now, given the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new era of global sport governance. The timing, and focus of this chapter, is to consider the immediate run-up to the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games and how the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) handled the situation of Russia invading Ukraine. Notably, the indecision, decisions, and backtracking by the IPC in relation to the inclusion/ability of the Russian and Belarusian Paralympic teams to compete. Following the description of the decision-making timeline, this chapter will outline three views. The viewpoints will show different ways to interpret the IPC’s handling of this situation. The first view will be from international media’s coverage, the second response from the athletes and National Paralympic Committees, and, finally, the Beijing Organizing Committee’s (lack of) response. Through description and interpretation this chapter will highlight how the initial invasion period of the war in Ukraine shaped the governance of elite disability sport and the role that different voices played in the diplomatic aspects of this situation. To ground this piece, the first subsection will identify key debates surrounding the area and conceptualization of para-sport, global sport governance, and diplomacy.