A view of the arena in Verona, Italy, where the opening ceremony for the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics takes place on March 6. The Paralympic Games are being overshadowed by military conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Luca Bruno/AP
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Luca Bruno/AP
MILAN — Airstrikes by Israel and the United States against Iran, and counter-strikes launched by Iran against neighboring countries, breached the symbolic Olympic truce, approved by the United Nations, which urged nations to suspend all military activity until March 15.
Fighting continued Sunday as more than 660 elite athletes with disabilities from around the world, including Iran, Israel and the U.S. were gathering in Italy for the Winter Paralympic Games.
The family of at least one athlete remains stuck in Doha, Qatar, after air traffic was disrupted by the conflict.
“They got on their flight from Doha to Venice and the flight turned around,” Michael Milton, a Paralympic Alpine skier from Canberra, Australia, told NPR. Milton said his wife and two teenage children spent 24 hours stranded in the airport before being given a hotel room. “They would love to get out of Doha and get to Italy, but there’s no timeline on that.”
Asked if he fears for their well-being, Milton said he hopes Doha’s air defense systems will continue to prove effective. “It’s obviously not a great area to be in. I would prefer they weren’t there, but I wouldn’t say I’m concerned about their safety at this point,” he said.
The tradition of Olympic truces dates back to ninth century BC, when Greek rulers suspended some conflicts so that athletes could compete in sacred Games. The concept was revived by Olympic officials and the United Nations in the early 1990s, as bitter conflicts raged in the Balkans.
But military conflicts have often irrupted despite the truces. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, just as the Winter Paralympic Games were set to begin in Beijing.
Iran and Israel each qualified a single athlete to compete in the 2026 Paralympic Games. Abolfazl Khatibi, from Iran, is a 23-year-old para-cross-country skier. Sheina Vaspi, age 24 from Israel, is also expected to race in para-Alpine ski events.
NPR asked the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for information about the two athletes and their status, but didn’t receive an immediate response.
The Milan Cortina Paralympic Games had already been overshadowed by diplomatic tension, after IPC officials decided to allow athletes from Belarus and Russia to compete under their national flags, despite Russia’s on-going full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Full involvement of Belarus and Russia marks a significant break from Olympic and Paralympic policy since 2022, which allowed a limited number of athletes from those countries to compete as independents.
The change at these Paralympic Games has led to protests from at least six countries, which have announced they will boycott opening ceremonies scheduled for March 6 in Verona, Italy.
