PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: North Korea’s athletes took centre-stage as the Winter Paralympics opened in South Korea on Friday with a glittering ceremony after a rapid round of diplomacy hit dizzying heights.
The opening ceremony included several performers with disabilities — a drummer with a prosthetic arm and legs beat a giant traditional drum, and a choir of wheelchair-bound performers sang the South Korean anthem.
South Korean President Moon Jae-In officially declared the biggest Winter Paralympics in history open, before fireworks lit up the night sky above the stadium.
In an opening address, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons urged the Paralympians to “keep fighting, play fair, have fun and keep pushing your limits.
“Your extraordinary stories are what dreams are made of and will be told for years to come.”
There are 567 athletes at the Games competing in 80 medal events across six sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, snowboard and wheelchair curling.
Among them are 30 neutral competitors from Russia, which remains suspended by the IPC over a mass doping scandal.
Parsons has defended the decision to allow Russians to take part — they were banned entirely at the Rio 2016 Paralympics — insisting those competing are “as clean as any others” at the Games.
Some of the adapted sports have become hits with spectators, such as fast and furious para ice hockey where competitors slide around on double-bladed sledges.
As well as North Korea, Georgia and Tajikistan are taking part for the first time in the nine-day Games.
Paralympians are an eclectic bunch, ranging from a 61-year-old Japanese ice hockey goaltender to a Mexican who found unlikely success as a mono-skier.
American snowboarder Brenna Huckaby, who lost her right leg below the knee, made headlines when she featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue. — afp
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