Russian Federation should be banned from Rio 2016, says British International Olympic Committee member Adam Pengilly.
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“At the same time, I am concerned and deeply saddened by the possibility that in case all Russian athletes are banned from competing in the Olympic Games, the innocent will be punished together with the guilty”.
“The principle of collective punishment is unacceptable for me. I am convinced that it is contrary to the culture of the Olympic movement, based on universal values, humanism and the principles of law”.
The International Paralympic Committee’s decision on Saturday to start suspension proceedings against Russian Federation came two days before IOC leaders decide whether to exclude the country’s entire team from the Olympics next month in Brazil.
“Should (Russia) be suspended they will have 21 days to appeal the decision”, the statement adds.
In the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the Russians won 33 medals, more than any other country.
But Russia has found support from some global sports bodies, with the worldwide Judo Federation (IJF) insisting all clean athletes should be allowed to take part in Rio.
“Governments are investing public money into achieving that, so we have a responsibility also to ensure that our athletes are competing to their best, whether they’ve got public or private funding behind them”.
The world athletics body International Olympic Committee reported separately on Friday 45 new doping failures from the last two Games, bringing the total number of positive drug tests to 98 since a retesting programme was launched. Two provisional positives from the first wave of Beijing tests announced in May were ultimately not deemed conclusive.
Paralympics New Zealand CEO Fiona Allan says the demands on Paralympic athletes to return with medals is now as high as it is for the Olympics.
“We have started proceedings to consider the suspension of their membership of the IPC”.
IPC president Sir Philip Craven thanked McLaren for his cooperation in uncovering the “unimaginable scale of institutionalised doping in Russian sport”.
The Paralympic Committee said it had received the names of 35 Russian para athletes with “disappearing positive samples” from a Moscow lab that has been implicated in the broader doping scandal.
The IPC is also sending 19 samples from the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Winter Games for further reanalysis “after they were identified by Richard McLaren’s investigation team as having been potentially doctored as part of the sample swapping regime during the Games”.
Russia, with places for 267 athletes across 18 sports, has the third largest delegation for the Rio Paralympics, behind China and Brazil.
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All athletes participating in Rio 2016 will be eligible to vote and will be asked to elect four candidates from four different sports in a bid to ensure a varied representation from the Olympic sports programme.
