RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Belarusian sports ministry employee who marched with a Russian flag in Wednesday’s opening ceremony has been booted out of the Paralympics.
The International Paralympic Committee says “the individual was quickly identified during the ceremony as a guest of the Belarus secretary general who should not have been part of the marching party in the first place.”
The IPC has banned Russia from the Paralympics because of the country’s part in a state-sponsored doping system.
Natalya Eismont, a spokeswoman for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, said it was not a spontaneous gesture.