Andrei Fomochkin carries the Russian flag at the back of the Belarusian delegation during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Paralympics on Wednesday. (Sergio Moraes/Reuters)A member of Belarus’ Paralympics delegation got himself booted from the 2016 Games for holding up a Russian flag during the Opening Ceremonies’ parade of athletes Wednesday night. “The [International Paralympics Committee] will be speaking to … Belarus this morning to remind them that political protests are forbidden at the Paralympic Games,” the IPC said in a statement (via Reuters). The man, identified as Andrei Fomochkin, the director of the Republican Center of Olympic training for Athletics in Belarus, has not said why he chose to bear the Russian flag. “I want to stress that this is the state position, and this includes the position of the president of the Paralympic committee,” he said.

Source: Washington Post September 08, 2016 21:03 UTC