Speaking to Olympic athletes at the Kremlin, Putin said the “decision to disqualify our Paralympians is outside the bounds of law, morality and humanity”.
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Such a verdict led to the ban on the presence of Russian athletes in the Paralympic competitions in Rio de Janeiro, to be held from September 7 to 18. The approach is similar to the criteria that allowed US-based Russian long jumper Darya Klishina to compete at the Rio Olympics when the rest of the Russian team was banned.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) released a report by Professor Richard H. McLaren prior to this month’s Olympic Games, which said Russian Federation operated a state-sponsored doping program for four years across the vast majority of summer and winter Olympic sports.
Putin also attacked what he claimed was the political decision to stop many Russian athletes from competing at the Olympics.
Putin said the decision to bar Russian athletes, including those who had not tested positive for any banned substances, was a vivid manifestation “of how the humanistic foundations of sport and Olympism are shamelessly flouted by politics”.
In addition to the cars, Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko said medalists would be receiving cash awards for their achievements: $62,000 for gold, $39,000 for silver, $26,000 for bronze.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday slammed the rejection of Russia’s appeal as a “cynical decision”, accusing members of the worldwide Paralympic movement of trying to “remove strong rivals”.
ABUJA, (Xinhua) – Nigeria plans to win more medals at the forthcoming Paralympics in Brazil, an official said Monday, as athletes gradually round off preparations for the games. “Even after it, they would have our full support. We are thinking about setting up a separate competition for them”.
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Syrian refugee Ibrahim al Hussein who is living, working and training in Greece will be one of the two refugees who will compete at the Rio Paralympics in September, forming the Independent Paralympic Athletes Team, the Hellenic Paralympic Committee announced on Friday.
