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Ukrainian athlete Kononova forced to take anti-war earrings off at 2026 Paralympics

IPC Spokesman Craig Spence noted that Alexandra Kononova's earrings breached IPC supplementary regulations on demonstrations

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO /Italy/, March 12. /TASS/. Ukrainian Para biathlete Alexandra Kononova was requested to take off her earrings before the medals award ceremony since they were in violation of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) general regulations, IPC Spokesman Craig Spence told TASS on Thursday.

The press office of the National Paralympics Committee of Ukraine issued a statement earlier claiming that an IPC representative tried to take Kononova's earrings away, and eventually "forced the athlete to take them off" before the award ceremony following the individual race at the Paralympics in Italy.

"What happened with the earrings, we realized that she was going to the podium, that she was wearing earrings that said ‘Stop War’," Spence stated. "A member of staff noticed these earrings, realized it would most likely breach our supplementary regulations on demonstrations, which were clearly communicated to all NPCs ahead of the Games."

"The situation was recognized, dealt with and, for us it was the end of the matter," Spence added.

The 2026 Winter Paralympic Games are being held in Italy on March 6-15.

The Ukrainian team is currently in 7th place in the overall medals standings with three gold, two silver and five bronze medals. The top three are currently China (10 gold, seven silver and nine bronze), followed in 2nd place by the United States (6-5-3) and Austria rounding out the trio (5-1-4).