(ATR) The largest-ever Winter Paralympic Games are open in PyeongChang, with organizing committee President Hee Beom Lee declaring "everyone is equal," regardless of impairments.
The opening ceremony in the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium took place on a foggy evening with the 30,000-seat stadium partially filled.
The opening ceremony featured K-pop performances and a jovial atmosphere, without any incidents from the past two editions.
The Ukrainian delegation during the 2014 Sochi Paralympics used the ceremony to protest Russian military intervention in the eastern part of the country. During the Rio 2016 Paralympics a Belorussian official displayed a Russian flag during the ceremony to protest the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to ban the country from the Games.
In PyeongChang 29 Russian athletes will compete as Neutral Paralympic Athletes, and to prevent any political statements a Games’ volunteer carried the Paralympic flag. A total of 567 athletes are due to compete, the highest number for a Winter Paralympics. Three countries, Georgia, North Korea, and Tajikistan are making Winter Paralympic debuts.
"It was not until the Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games that the [Paralympic] Games began to be staged on an equal level at the same place and the same period as the Olympic Games for the first time in history," Lee said in his opening address. "The Republic of Korea is now welcoming you with its upgraded and matured status in all levels such as political, economic, social, and cultural aspects."
IPC President Andrew Parsons will lead his first Paralympics Games since his election as president last September. In his opening address Parsons emphasized the dreams of the record number of Paralympians in attendance. Parsons also referenced the ongoing Russian doping scandal saying the IPC would "stand up to any threat to clean and open sport".
The Russian Paralympic Committee has been suspended by the IPC since August 2016, before the Rio 2016 Olympics. The IPC allowed nearly 30 athletes to compete as neutrals for the Winter Paralympics after banning the delegation entirely from the Rio Games.
"We will not be complacent; we will not be tolerant; we will do what is right for our athletes," Parsons said. "Paralympians, you are here in record numbers. Keep fighting, play fair, have fun and keep pushing your limits. Above all, keep dreaming, and may your dreams be realized."
The final torchbearers included groups of athletes and coaches culminating with the lighting of the Paralympic cauldron.
Entering the stadium with the Paralympic torch was South Korean visually impaired biathlete Bo Gue Choi and North Korean sitting cross country skier Yu Chol Ma. The symbolic gesture made up for the fact that North and South Korea marched separately into the opening ceremony.
The pair then passed the torch to South Korean cross country skiier Vorami Seo and Canadian coach Kaspar Wirz. The torch was then passed to triathlete Eun Chong Park and his son, who according to Yonhap has six different rare diseases.
Visually impaired skier Jae Rim Yang and guide Eunsori Go followed, before South Korean sledge hockey captain Min Su Han climbed a rope with the torch to the top of the stadium.
There South Korean wheelchair curling vice skip Soon Seok Seo and South Korean women’s curling skip Eun Jung Kim were waiting to light the cauldron. Kim was part of the surprise silver medal winning curling squad that captured the country’s attention during the 2018 Winter Olympics. Soon led the South Korean mixed wheelchair curling team to a bronze medal at the 2016 World Championships.
With that nine days of competition begins in PyeongChang and Gangneung.Wintry weather is in the forecast for the first weekend of competition. Massive snowfallsand frigid temperatures below freezing are expected. Medals in alpine events and biathlon will be contested Saturday.
Written by Aaron Bauer with additional reporting from Hironori Hashimoto in PyeongChang
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