Airstrikes involving Israel and the United States against Iran, followed by Iranian retaliatory strikes on neighboring countries, have violated the United Nations-endorsed Olympic truce that called for a halt to military operations through March 15. The clashes continued as more than 660 elite athletes with disabilities from around the world gathered in Italy for the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympic Games.
The opening ceremony in Verona took place under the shadow of the regional fighting. Delegations at the Games include athletes from Iran, Israel and the U.S., among many others. The disruptions have had immediate personal consequences: at least one athlete has family members delayed in Doha after air travel was interrupted. Paralympic alpine skier Michael Milton of Canberra said his wife and two teenage children were forced to wait 24 hours at the airport after their flight from Doha to Venice turned back; they were later given a hotel room but remain without a clear timeline to reach Italy. Milton said he hoped Doha’s air defenses would hold and that he was uneasy but not convinced his family was in immediate danger.
The notion of an Olympic truce goes back to the ninth century BC, when Greek city-states paused hostilities so athletes could travel safely to sacred Games. The idea was revived by Olympic authorities and the United Nations in the early 1990s amid the wars in the Balkans, but it has often been ignored. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which began as the Winter Paralympics in Beijing were about to start, is a recent example of a truce being broken.
Athletes from Iran and Israel are among those listed to compete: 23-year-old Iranian para cross-country skier Abolfazl Khatibi and 24-year-old Israeli para-alpine skier Sheina Vaspi are included on entry lists. The International Paralympic Committee was asked about their status but did not provide an immediate response.
Diplomatic tensions had already clouded these Games after the IPC allowed athletes from Belarus and Russia to compete under their national flags, reversing the neutral status those athletes were required to use since 2022. That policy change prompted protests and led at least six countries to announce they would boycott the Verona opening ceremonies on March 6.
Organizers and athletes are attempting to focus on competition and inclusion despite the geopolitical turbulence surrounding the event, but the breaches of the formal truce and the ongoing regional attacks underscore the fragile intersection of sport and international conflict.