According to Sushkevich, the uniform prepared for the team was rejected by the International Paralympic Committee, calling it “political.”
“They said that no one would allow us to come out in such a uniform. This uniform was very beautiful, very symbolic and very emphatically “screamed” that there is Ukraine in the world, in Europe, with all its territories without occupation by Russia,” Sushkevich explained.
According to him, the uniform had a globalized map of Ukraine designed by Viktor Anisimov, who had already created the uniform for the Ukrainian team at the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games in Paris. Then the uniform had military accents – in addition to yellow and blue, “the color that our defenders have at the front” was used. Although it took a long time to approve the form, the team was able to approve it.
“And now we were more radical. Our radicalism is explained by the fact that after Paris, this escalation of loyalty to “Russia” occurred with new force, a new wave. That is, there are already subjects of the Paralympic bureaucracy who are on guard to prevent Ukraine from declaring itself as a country without occupation and that it will fight in this form against the aggressor country,” added the head of the Paralympic Committee.
Because of the ban, a new uniform had to be urgently produced, which was transported by bus to Italy, where the athletes are located. Sushkevich added that the team “barely made it.”
