Paralympics-Verona ceremony looks to lift Paralympic flame above world’s fractures

By Andrea Mandala and Valentina Za

VERONA, Italy, March 6 (Reuters) – Less than two weeks after bidding goodbye to the Winter Olympics, Verona’s majestic Roman amphitheatre hosts the Paralympic Games opening ceremony on Friday, against a dramatically altered global backdrop.

The message of diversity and inclusion that the inaugural event of the 50th Paralympics aims to project must contend with absences tied to the protests against the choice to allow Russian and Belarusian flags on the field of play, as well as to air‑travel chaos caused by the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran.

Unable to travel safely due to the conflict, two-time Paralympian Aboulfazl Khatibi Mianaei and Iran’s sole athlete would not take part in the Milano Cortina Games, the International Paralympic Committee said on Friday. 

Dubbed “Life in Motion”, the ceremony is intended as a tribute to life as transformation and will feature performances by former The Police drummer Stewart Copeland, rising Italian-Malian soul singer Mimi Caruso and DJ Miky Bionic, who plays his music with a bionic myoelectric hand.

Planes flown by acrobatic pilots, including some who use wheelchairs, will streak green, blue and red – the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) colours – over the ceremony.

“Attending the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics will be a life-changing experience,” IPC President Andrew Parsons said.

ABSENCES

Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have joined Ukraine in the boycott of Friday’s parade to show solidarity with Kyiv following Russia’s 2022 invasion, the IPC said on Friday, adding others, including Canada, Great Britain, Germany and France, will be absent instead for performance reasons.

Germany has said its athletes’ absence is also an expression of solidarity with Ukraine. 

Flags for 55 nations competing in what will be the largest Paralympic Winter Games in history will be carried by volunteers at Friday’s parade, with up to two athletes for countries in attendance marching behind the flagbearer and, in some cases, also a pre-recorded video featuring the rest of their teams.

Between the politically motivated absences and those linked to the competition schedule, the IPC said 29 national Paralympic delegations would attend the parade.

Though the delegations’ marching order follows the Italian alphabet – except for the closing spots reserved for the current and future host countries – the IPC had inserted Iceland between Iran and Israel, in a list published on Thursday before Iran pulled out.

Brian McKee, father of three‑time U.S. Paralympic gold medallist Kevin, said the Games were a version of the real world where people managed to get on.

“This is the world, you know,” he said as he entered the Arena. “I was in Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang in 2018: everybody got along fantastic. It doesn’t matter where you’re from.”

Running from March 6 to 15, the Milano Cortina Paralympics will have a record 612 athletes competing in 79 medal events across six sports, including the debut of wheelchair curling mixed doubles and of five countries: El Salvador, Haiti, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Portugal.

Pyeongchang 2018 had set the previous record with 564 athletes from 48 delegations.

Rising above a fractious backdrop, the Paralympic flame will be lit for the first time inside a UNESCO-listed heritage site – Verona’s 2,000-year-old Arena which, together with Juliet’s balcony, are the symbols of the city where William Shakespeare set his “Romeo and Juliet” drama.

As for the Olympic Games, which have won Italy international praise for its organisational achievements, the Paralympics will be held across multiple locations, with athletes competing in Milan and the Alpine resorts of Cortina d’Ampezzo and Val di Fiemme.

(Reporting by Andrea Mandalà and Valentina Za; Editing by Christian Radnedge)