Paralympics: Eskau defends participation of Russian athletes

Pyeongchang (SID) In contrast to her association president Friedhelm Julius Beucher, the multiple Paralympics winner Andrea Eskau (46) has no problems with the admission of Russian athletes to the competitions in Pyeongchang. "I know a lot of neutral athletes and they are my friends. We have a lot of participants (in the Nordics, ed.), and for me it's absolutely fine that they are there, because they are also our competitors in all of them other competitions," said the six-time gold medalist at the Summer and Winter Paralympics on Wednesday in Pyeongchang. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) decided in January to allow “demonstrably clean” Russian athletes to start in Pyeongchang as “Neutral Paralympic Athletes”. Beucher described this as a “slap in the face of all clean athletes”. Eskau said she didn't know whether the athletes she competed against were clean or not, but she certainly didn't know anyone who had doped. She also knows, the qualified psychologist added, “that Julius has a different point of view.” The 16-time Paralympics winner Gerd Schönfelder was dissatisfied in an interview with Deutsche Sporthilfe. The IPC “unfortunately” followed the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “This is very sad, as there are still no signals from the Russian side to consistently follow the path of the anti-doping fight,” said Schönfelder. He also criticized the fact that the IOC had fully readmitted Russia just three days after the end of the Winter Olympics: "That sends the wrong signal, especially in the interest and protection of clean athletes. We will not win the anti-doping fight like this! "

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Paralympics: Eskau defends participation of Russian athletes

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