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Russia and Belarus have been banned from participating in the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing.

In a statement released on Mar. 3, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced its decision after a specially convened meeting, saying that the "situation in the athletes villages" had become "untenable".

A number of teams had threatened to boycott the event, which would have made the Games "unviable", said the IPC.

The Games are scheduled to begin on Friday (Mar. 4).

Athletes previously allowed to compete as "neutrals"

This decision, however, comes a day after the IPC said it would allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete as "neutrals".

This meant that athletes from these countries would compete under the Paralympic flag and would not be included in the medals table.

Initially, the IPC allowed athletes from the two countries to compete as "unlike their respective governments", they were not the "aggressors".

However, the decision to allow these athletes to compete drew outcry from other teams, who told the IPC to reconsider their decision and threatened to boycott the Games, said IPC President Andrew Parsons.

Parsons said the IPC had to consider the "long-term health and survival of the Paralympic Movement" and said that this situation had put the Committee in an "impossible position so close to the Games".

IPC says affected athletes are "victims" of their governments' actions

Addressing the affected athletes, Parsons said:

"We are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic Truce. You are victims of your governments’ actions."

He added that IPC's decision affects 83 para athletes from the two countries.

"I hope and pray that we can get back to a situation when the talk and focus is fully on the power of sport to transform the lives of persons with disabilities, and the best of humanity," he said.

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Top photo via Paralympic Games/FB