The global anti-doping agency had called for such a ban after an inquiry found Russian Federation was running a state-backed doping program for both Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
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Last month the IPC said: “In view of the culture endemic within Russian sport at the very highest levels, NPC Russia appears unable or unwilling to ensure compliance with and the enforcement of the IPC’s Anti-Doping Code within its own national jurisdiction”.
A World Anti-Doping Agency panel last November released an explosive report that accused the Russian government of helping its athletes cheat doping tests. “Their medals over morals mentality disgusts me”.
The global committee said it will begin working with the worldwide sporting federations to figure out how the 267 slots that had been allotted to Russian Paralympic athletes across 18 sports will be redistributed to other nations.
Canadian law professor Richard McLaren’s report into Russian state-sponsored doping sparked an IPC investigation, which confirmed Russian para athletes had their urine samples tampered with.
“Tragically, this situation is not about athletes cheating a system, but about a state-run system that is cheating the athletes”, Craven said.
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from the IPC press conference in Rio de Janeiro, called the decision shocking.
The Paralympics take place after the conclusion of the Olympics and begin on 7 September.
The Russian government has failed its athletes. It shows a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of athletes.
In contrast to the Paralympic Committee’s move, the IOC laid out new criteria that Russian athletes must meet to participate in the Olympics, which opened on Saturday (NZ Time). “Their thirst for glory at all costs has severely damaged the integrity and image of all sport, and has certainly resulted in a devastating outcome for the Russian Paralympic Committee and para-athletes”.
Instead the International Olympic Committee passed the decision onto the governing bodies of each sport, and then hastily convened a three-man panel to make the final call.
Lynne Anderson, the chief executive of the Australian Paralympic Committee, told the ABC it was a “sad day for everybody”, but the International Paralympic Committee did not have any alternative.
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IOC spokesman Mark Adams said earlier Sunday that he would not be surprised if the IPC took a different decision to the IOC as there is a distinction between the winter and summer Games, in terms of the worldwide federations involved. During the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, Russia ranked second overall in the gold medal count, placing only behind China.
