The IPC will now work with global federations to redistribute the 267 slots that had been secured by the Russian athletes to compete at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, the statement says.
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NEWS BRIEF The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest appellate court in world sport, has upheld a ban imposed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on all Russian competitors at the upcoming Rio games.
Russia’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko denounced the ruling, saying it was “more political than judicial”.
CAS affirmed IPC’s August 7 order in a single-page ruling, dismissing the appeal filed by the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC).
IPC President Sir Philip Craven said it was an “unprecedented attack on every clean athlete who competes in sport”.
The court said its judges ruled that the International Paralympic Committee “did not violate any procedural rule” in banning the Russian team two weeks ago.
McLaren was able to reveal even more cases from Paralympic sport than he listed in his preliminary report, and once the IPC had examined the Canadian’s evidence, it was able to see that positive drug tests by 11 Russian athletes were covered up by the Moscow anti-doping laboratory at the behest of the Russian ministry of sport between 2012-15.
Russian Federation has said that the IPC’s decision is politically motivated and will punish dozens of innocent athletes.
The decision to exclude Russia’s team, initially made on August 7 by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), means at least 260 competitors from the country are now set to miss the September 7-18 event.
The respected Russian investigative paper Novaya Gazeta, known normally for its highly critical coverage of the Kremlin, issued an appeal for an worldwide campaign for Russia’s Paralympians to take part. “We hope this decision acts as a catalyst for change in Russia and we can welcome the Russian Paralympic Committee back as a member safe in the knowledge that it is fulfilling its obligations to ensure fair competition for all”. The Russian athletes were subjected to jeering by the spectators in Rio, however, neither the athletes nor their officials expressed any sense of shame, or the understanding that something is really wrong in sports in their country.
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Following McLaren’s report, the International Paralympics Committee said it had found at least 27 occasions when samples of Russian Paralympians had been interfered with across eight disciplines. Other Russian athletes were allowed to compete, however, despite a recommendation for a blanket ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
