2022 Winter Paralympics

[Newshound47]

The IPC have said today that athletes from Russia/the RPC and Belarus will be competing as neutral Paralympic athletes at the Winter Paralympics - they are also to be excluded from the offically medal table, so presumably broadcasters will do the same

https://twitter.com/Paralympics/status/1...dUTOip8QqQ

I imagine so.

Through as Nadine Dories has effectively said that GB might boycott things could well change by Friday.

[Hatton Cross]

But Channel 4's deal is done through the IPC not Team Paralympics GB. So, any refund/rebate would be hard to argue for if Team GB sat this one out on moralistic grounds.

The IPC could (and would argue) that it was upto that national parasports organization whether they took part in the games or not.
If there was any medal awarding games played, then Channel 4 have paid to show it, as the IPC have put the event on, as per the rights holder contract.

[UTVLifer]

Major U-turn from the IPC this morning

https://twitter.com/paralympics/status/1...32034?s=21

[RDJ]

It’s quite concerning that it’s taking a revolt from the other participants to get the organisers to change their mind.
First Eurovision, now this.

They previously said that getting the athletes to participate under the Paralympics flag was the strongest possible punishment, that was obviously not the case. They already weren’t competing under their actual countries flag, so the previous decision effectively meant that not much had changed.

[Newshound47]

It’s quite concerning that it’s taking a revolt from the other participants to get the organisers to change their mind.
First Eurovision, now this.

They previously said that getting the athletes to participate under the Paralympics flag was the strongest possible punishment, that was obviously not the case. They already weren’t competing under their actual countries flag, so the previous decision effectively meant that not much had changed.

Belarus was. It was only Russia that had a Doping ban.

For Channel 4 the biggest disruption is nothing to air at 6am Sunday morning when it was meant to be GB v RPC in the wheelchair curling.

[Brekkie]

The U-turn was inevitable. Part of me wonders if they are planned U-turns as initially allowing them to compete pretty much allows them to illustrate why it is justified to ban them outright.

Will obviously be an even darker shadow over these games anyway.

[Newshound47]

The U-turn was inevitable. Part of me wonders if they are planned U-turns as initially allowing them to compete pretty much allows them to illustrate why it is justified to ban them outright.

Will obviously be an even darker shadow over these games anyway.

Might be a way to get it past any possible legal challenges.

[James2001]

I never really got the thing of letting Russia compete as the ROC/RPC anyway after the doping scandals. It's just window dressing really, yes they couldn't use their flag or anthem, but they were still competing and winning medals. If they were going to ban them, then it should have been a proper ban.

[Brekkie]

I never really got the thing of letting Russia compete as the ROC/RPC anyway after the doping scandals. It's just window dressing really, yes they couldn't use their flag or anthem, but they were still competing and winning medals. If they were going to ban them, then it should have been a proper ban.

I think the events in Beijing were part of the reason the Figure Skating Union had absolutely no hesitation in banning Russia immediately from their forthcoming World Champs rather than exploring the neutral aspect first. World Athletics had no hesitation either, but FINA (swimming) are still holding out on neutral participation.


If these games were anywhere other than China and not in the shadow of covid I suspect the opening ceremony would be quite the statement of support for Ukraine so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

[Newshound47]

I never really got the thing of letting Russia compete as the ROC/RPC anyway after the doping scandals. It's just window dressing really, yes they couldn't use their flag or anthem, but they were still competing and winning medals. If they were going to ban them, then it should have been a proper ban.

I think the events in Beijing were part of the reason the Figure Skating Union had absolutely no hesitation in banning Russia immediately from their forthcoming World Champs rather than exploring the neutral aspect first. World Athletics had no hesitation either, but FIBA (swimming) are still holding out on neutral participation.


If these games were anywhere other than China and not in the shadow of covid I suspect the opening ceremony would be quite the statement of support for Ukraine so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

FINA (Swimming - FIBA is basketball) are said to be close to the Russian Government so Perhaps not surprising. They will most likely u turn by May (when the world championships are in Budapest).

[Brekkie]

Back to the triviality of presentation and have C4 announced any details of their commentary teams and who is commentating on the ceremonies?

[Steve Williams]

Back to the triviality of presentation and have C4 announced any details of their commentary teams and who is commentating on the ceremonies?

The commentators for the opening ceremony are billed in the Radio Times - Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Rob Walker and Sean Rose.

[Steve Williams]

The commentators for the opening ceremony are billed in the Radio Times - Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Rob Walker and Sean Rose.

Turns out this wasn't quite right in the end, as Rose was in the "studio" with Ade, and Jade Etherington was the third commentator. I actually interviewed Jade about a decade ago in my old job, and she was lovely. That is my Jade Etherington story.

[Brekkie]

Getting a bit sick with Public Enemy as the theme tune now - leave that to The Last Leg and move on with the Paralympics themselves striking a new identity. Title sequence is nice though, graphics unsurprisingly basically the same as Tokyo.

Ed Jackson is a real asset to the coverage though.

[RhysJR]

Coverage of Day One has begun on Channel 4 45 minutes or so before the first action. Lauren Steadman opened coverage from the foot of the alpine skiing piste, before handing over to Arthur Williams out-of-vision. I presume Arthur will provide overnight continuity like Sonja McLaughlin did in Tokyo. I missed the Opening Ceremony so good to see the highlights, though disappointing to see the tiny flame from the Olympics has returned.


Rob Walker and Jade Etherington are the alpine skiing commentators and look like they're off-tube unsurprisingly.

So far, the ad breaks have been fully for Channel 4 programming only like Tokyo overnights were.

Getting a bit sick with Public Enemy as the theme tune now - leave that to The Last Leg and move on with the Paralympics themselves striking a new identity. Title sequence is nice though, graphics unsurprisingly basically the same as Tokyo.

I see what they're trying to do by having a recurring theme (like Pop Goes Bach (Ski Sunday) was used for every Winter Olympics before 2006) but I have to agree it is slighlty annoying already. I'm alright with it being the titles music but hearing samples of it behind every graphics, behind the coming up segments and in and out of the ad breaks will be a bit grating.