“Belarusian Paralympic Athlete Defies Organizers by Carrying Russian Flag at 2016 Opening Ceremony”

The Russian banner appeared at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Paralympics, despite the protests of the organizers.

On September 7, the opening of the 2016 Paralympics took place in Rio de Janeiro. 161 delegations of participating countries appeared at the Maracana stadium, among which there was no Russian Federation. Russia was suspended from the competition due to the report of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) canceled the applications of 267 of our athletes, but could not cancel the Russian flag at the tournament.

As a sign of solidarity with the Russians, the Belarusian team carried the Russian flag at the opening ceremony of the Games in Brazil. An act not sanctioned by the organizers of the competition was committed by Andrei Fomochkin, an employee of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of Belarus, for which he was subsequently deprived of accreditation.

The action performed by Fomochkin received a wide public outcry. The words of gratitude from the Russians were addressed to the Belarusian Paralympic athletes.

“We are proud that there are such people,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at the time. “It is the people who are outside of politics. We believe that this step is above politics. This is a human step, a human act. So important to our Paralympians and to all of us.

Fomochkin worked as the head of the winter sports department of the Ministry of Sports of Belarus. In the past, he was a master of sports of the USSR of international class in athletics and the winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR-1986.

According to Fomochkin, the entire international Paralympic family wanted to see the Russian flag at the opening of the Paralympic Games in Rio.

“The hero is Yegorov and Kantaria, who hoisted the flag over the Reichstag,” Fomochkin said on the STV channel. – And I expressed the general decision of the Paralympic whole family, which was sincerely supported by everyone. You see, there are political motivations that prevent someone from expressing this sincerely. Express it publicly, personally. The first greeting I received on my phone was from an ethnic German who wrote “Thank you for the Russian flag.”

“I’m not the kind of Russian to bow the banner before the President of the United States.” The daring trick of Tikhonov at the Olympics

Later, Natalya Eismont, press secretary of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, said that the team of their country was supposed to carry a large Russian flag at the head of the column along with the Belarusian one, but representatives of the IPC seized it.

– We had five Russian flags, – said at a press conference the chairman of the Paralympic Committee of Belarus Oleg Shepel. – Andrey Fomochkin had two of them. When the team left the room under the stands, the first flag was removed. And when they overcame all the security guards, passed 15 meters, he raised the flag. It was support for the Paralympic team, not a political action. It is unfair when destinies are decided without evidence. This is a violation of human rights.

Lukashenka called Fomochkin’s act the state position of Belarus.

“This is our position, the state position,” STV quoted Lukashenka as saying. – Including the President of Belarus. You can not offend these people, these people are already offended. Because they see our possibilities and, perhaps, they cannot quite live the way we do. But, using other compensatory natural abilities and possibilities, they surpassed us. Well, if we have already made a decision in the world to allow such people to compete, to go in for sports (and this means to overcome oneself, to find interest in this life). Why are we bullying them?”

The story of Vedenin’s feat: a Soviet skier destroyed a Norwegian and did not obey the Japanese emperor

However, not everyone liked the behavior of the Belarusian Paralympic delegation on the Marakana. English readers of The Guardian called the incident with the Russian flag a political action:

“The Paralympics could not be outside of politics, alas.”

“If you don’t want this to be political, then keep protest flags at home. You are here to compete in sports under your national flag and not under some political statement.”

“Here you can see the official line of the Kremlin.”

“The Paralympic Games have become real political games.”

“Another Olympic Circus”.

A number of well-known Western publications have published numbers with negative theses about Belarus and Russia:

Time: “Universal unity and participation were the themes of the opening ceremony of the Paralympics in Rio. However, the gesture of one country reminded everyone of those who should not participate in these Games.”

Times: “The festive spirit of the opening ceremony of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio was spoiled by the Belarusian team.”

Telegraph: “The opening ceremony of the 2016 Paralympics in Rio gave a spectacular and heartfelt start to the Games, despite the pro-Russian protest of Belarus.”

Our footballers play at the World Cup with teams from the USA, Spain, Canada. After the defeat of the Japanese, they came out with the Russian flag

In October 2016, businessman Sergei Shmakov presented Fomochkin with a certificate for a one-room apartment in the Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region. The cost of real estate, according to some estimates, was about 3 million rubles.

“I want to express my gratitude to Andrei Fomochkin for his fantastic deed, now our entire country should look up to such people,” Shmakov said. – The idea to make a gift did not come immediately, about ten days ago I thought that it was impossible to just leave it like that. Since I am a builder, it means that it is necessary to choose according to the construction. An apartment in a luxurious residential complex, this is not PR or advertising – just from me personally.