IPC Explains Comoros, Liberia Absence from Paralympics

(ATR) Separate travel issues forced the withdrawal of Comoros and Liberia from the Rio Paralympics.

International Paralympic Committee communications director Craig Spence confirmed to Around the Rings the reasons for each country’s absence. The IPC expected 161 countries plus the Independent Paralympic Athletes to participate but that number was not met after Comoros and Liberia did not arrive.

For Liberia, "internal conflict and mismanagement" within the national Paralympic committee meant officials were not able to secure accreditations or make travel arrangements for Rio.

"They were not in possession of a visa," Spence said. "Therefore they were unable to travel."

Liberian Paralympic chef de mission Festus Toe-Robinson told ATR that a lack of funds from the Liberian government and a bureaucratic mess made travelling to Rio impossible. Toe-Robinson said that the NPC was able to book three tickets to come to Rio, but government funding to pay for travel never arrived.

"The Rio accreditation process took us some time to complete due to internal problems over unpaid funds to the London 2012 delegates," Toe-Robinson said. "By the 15th of August we finally submitted our entry to the Rio accreditation center and waited for further instruction which did not come until I communicated to IPC Powerlifting."

After communicating with the IPC, Liberian officials were told they would not be receiving a PVC visa to enter Brazil. That left the delegation with the only option of arranging a visa for themselves through either Ghana or the Ivory Coast. Liberia does have a Brazilian consulate, but Toe-Robinson said it would not issue a visa for the delegation to travel.

Toe-Robinson said the Liberian delegation asked for help in sending a letter to the Brazilian embassy in Ghana to speed up the process. "I don't know if the letter was sent," Toe-Robinson added.

Comoros’ lone athlete was due to travel to Rio with the country’s chef de mission. Just before the Games, the chef de mission was forced to alter and eventually cancel their travel plans due to a family issue. Alternate plans were conceived, but could not be followed through leading to the withdrawal of the Comorian athlete.

"The athlete could not travel alone so they tried to accredit a doctor," Spence said. "There were no more seats available on the same flight as the athlete, so [they] decided to cancel."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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