Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who was barred from the Rio Olympics because of the McLaren report, said an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) would be made over the IPC ruling.
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“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, adding, “Tragically this situation is not about athletes cheating a system but about a state-run system that is cheating athletes.”
Russian Paralympic athletes have been kicked out of the Rio Games following revelations of systemic doping.
The 2016 Paralympics are scheduled to be held in Rio on September 7-18.
IOC President Thomas Bach had described a blanket ban as a “nuclear option” in which innocent athletes would be “collateral damage”.
When asked why he, as an International Olympic Committee member, supported Bach’s decision to let each sport make its own assessment on individual Russian athletes for the Rio Olympics – a convoluted and at times chaotic process that has led to Russia fielding a team of 278 athletes – Craven stressed the differences between the structures of the two organisations.
World Archery strongly disagrees with the ban, which goes against the principles of inclusion and fair play, and considers the decision to have been taken based on a report that is unfinished and should remain ongoing until its mandate is completed, as stated by the International Olympic Committee and WADA.
Russian Federation again rejected the doping allegations and said the decision by Paralympics body was “beyond belief”. “It is all the ravings of a piebald mare”, R-Sport news agency quoted Vladimir Lukin, president of the Russian Paralympic Committee, as saying. “This is about doing justice to clean athletes all over the world”.
On July 22nd IPC opened a case against the Russian Paralympic Committee (RCC) after WADA announced 35 names of Russian Paralympians who were mentioned in the report of an independent commission under the leadership of Richard McLaren.
“The Russian Paralympic Committee was informed of our decision earlier today”. “It is a betrayal of the very highest human rights standards which are the foundation of the modern world”. He said, as an IOC member, he was not “diametrically opposed” to the Executive Board decision, which was taken in the interest of the Olympic movement.
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In the meantime, the Rio Paralympics will take place without the country that finished second on the medal table in London, a country that Craven himself said staged the best ever Winter Paralympics two years ago. “They are part of a broken system”.
