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).
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Russian Federation will not be allowed to compete at the 2016 Paralympic Games after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) confirmed it had implemented a blanket ban.
“The Russian Paralympic Committee are unable to ensure compliance with and enforcement of the IPC anti-doping code and the world anti-doping code within their own national jurisdiction”. “We certainly have athletes – as every country would – that would want to be at the Paralympic games, it’s a matter of whether it can actually happen”.
Russia’s appeal process could take up to 21 days, and the fill-in athletes will not be confirmed until the appeals are finished.
Russia’s Paralympics team won 102 medals at London 2012 and placed second in the table with 36 golds, behind only China.
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.
He added: “The doping culture that is polluting Russian sport stems from the Russian government and has now been uncovered in not one, but two independent reports commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency”.
On Sunday, WADA came out in support of the IPC’s decision, saying it’s “in the interest of clean athletes and the clean sport movement”.
“With the full facts to hand, we were deeply saddened to find that the state-sponsored doping that exists in Russian sport regrettably extends to Russian Para sport as well”, said Craven.
“Tragically this situation is not about athletes cheating a system, but about a state-run system that is cheating the athletes”, said IPC President Philip Craven. “Their thirst for glory at all costs has severely damaged the integrity and image of all sport”. Craven then went on to condemn the Russian government for failing its athletes with its “medals over morals” mentality and a system that “is contrary to the rules and strikes at the very heart of the spirit of Paralympicsport”. It shows a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of athletes.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told Russia’s news agency Tass he will appeal the decision and submit a claim to the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland.
McLaren’s report found that the testing procedures across Russian Paralympic competition had been compromised, with urine samples swapped out to avoid positive tests, described by Craven as an “abhorrent practice”.
“The IPC showed strong leadership today in holding Russia’s state-organised doping accountable, ” said Tygart.
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The British Paralympic Association said the IPC had taken a bold decision and congratulated it for taking a “clear stand”.
