Leading up to the Winter Paralympics opening ceremony there were doubts Ukraine’s team of 20 athletes would reach China and the prospect that even if they made it they could be sharing podiums with Russian athletes even as Russian tanks rolled towards Kyiv.
The International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) late U-turn to ban Russia avoided that scenario and after a fraught four-day journey and an emotional entrance into the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing the Ukraine team has gone on to all but ensure they will finish second in the medal table, the highest position since they started competing as an independent country in 1996.
