When war enters sports. Belarusian Ihar Boki won his fourth Paralympic title in the 50m freestyle, ahead of three Ukrainians, including Illia Yaremenko and Oleksii Virchenko. However, the medal ceremony did not go as planned: the two Ukrainian athletes refused to take the final photo on the podium with the Belarusian athlete.
Just after the Paralympic anthem, under the huge AIN flag symbolizing the neutral athletes – the official designation of Russian and Belarusian athletes admitted to the Paralympic Games – Ihar Boki, dressed in purple, was ignored by the two Ukrainian athletes who preferred to embrace each other.
Also read Para triathlon: gold for Alexis Hanquinquant, silver and bronze for Thibaut Rigaudeau and Antoine Perel
Ihar Boki became the most successful para-athlete in history by winning 20 Paralympic titles, equalling French para-swimmer Béatrice Hess.
In this edition, for the first time, the selfie between the three swimmers did not take place. This act directly refers to the Russian invasion of February 2022 where Belarus is one of Russia’s main partners against Ukraine.
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