BEIJING — A day after organizers of the Paralympic Winter Games announced that they would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the competitions, the organization’s board made a stunning reversal and barred athletes from both countries on the eve of the opening ceremony.
Citing threats by several countries to boycott the Games, mounting discontent in the athletes’ village and fears that a “deteriorating” situation there could lead to violence, the International Paralympic Committee said the situation had changed so dramatically overnight that the viability of the Games would be in jeopardy if organizers did not expel the Russian and Belarusian athletes.