BEIJING (AP) — The Winter Paralympics shut on Sunday, ending an nearly six-week run for worldwide sports activities within the Chinese language capital that started with the opening of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 4.
It additionally ends a run for Asia of internet hosting 4 of the final eight Olympics and Paralympics, beginning with the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is unclear when sports activities’ largest stage will return to Asia.
The following Summer season Olympics and Paralympics are in 2024 in Paris, adopted by Winter Video games in Milan-Cortina, Italy in 2026, and Los Angeles in 2028 with the Summer season Video games.
The earliest return to Asia appears just like the 2030 Winter Olympics with Sapporo, Japan, a prime contender. It was the Winter Video games host in 1972.
The Paralympics opened simply eight days after Russia — aided by Belarus — invaded Ukraine.
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The Worldwide Paralympic Committee, after declining to bar Russian and Belarusian athletes, reversed course and eliminated their 83 athletes — 71 from Russia and 12 from Belarus.
Ukraine, with solely 20 athletes competing, completed second to China within the medal standings. Many overcame troublesome journeys to make it and confirmed dedication regardless of the battle at dwelling.
IPC President Andrew Parsons delivered an impassioned anti-war speech to open the Paralympics on March 4, talking at Beijing’s Chicken’s Nest nationwide stadium with China’s President Xi Jinping additionally attending.
Components of Parsons’ speech weren’t translated by China’s state-run broadcaster, and a number of the audio was dropped. The IPC lodged a protest over what it stated was probably censorship, however was informed the silence was brought on by an unexplained glitch.
China has declined to sentence Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the opening of the Olympics on Feb. 4, one of many few main world leaders to attend with Xi additionally in attendance.
The Winter Paralympics attracted slightly below 600 athletes, far fewer than the two,900 who attended the Winter Olympics.
Each occasions had been held beneath China’s extreme COVID-19 restrictions, which required every day testing by athletes and others attending, with entry restricted to solely motels, venues and media facilities.
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