Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said Tuesday that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had adopted a “political decision” rejecting Russian appeal on non-admission of the country’ s athletes to the Rio Paralympics.
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Russian Federation was banned from competing by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on August 7 following allegations of state-sponsored doping made in an independent report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). “It’s a blow for all disabled people, not just the Russian ones”.
The court further said that the appeal did not present any evidence that contradicted the “facts on which the IPC decision was based”. The Russians claimed 56 medals at the Olympics, including 19 gold, to finish fourth in the medal count.
The RPC filed a statement of appeal with the CAS in Lausanne on 15 August 2016 challenging the ban imposed by the IPC.The parties agreed to an expedited arbitration procedure with a hearing in Rio de Janeiro on 22 August 2016 in presence of the parties and their representatives.
But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to yield and left it to individual sports associations to decide on the Russian participation.
The court said its judges agreed the world Paralympic body “did not violate any procedural rule” in banning the Russian team two weeks ago.
“We are greatly encouraged that the CAS Panel has upheld the IPC Governing Board’s unanimous decision”, the IPC press service quotes the committee’s President Philip Craven as saying.
“(The) decision to ban the (Russian team) was made in accordance with the IPC Rules and was proportionate in the circumstances”, the court said in a statement.
“I would like to wish our Paralympics athletes spiritual strength in such a situation and I also propose that we hold real Paralympic Games for the strongest on September 7-18 here in Russia”, Brechalov said in comments with TASS.
“It is a sad day for the Paralympic movement”, said Craven. “But we hope also a new beginning”.
The 267 slots that had been allocated to Russian Paralympians, who topped the medal board in the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympics and finished second in the 2012 London Games, will now be redistributed, the IPC said. 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.
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The Paralympics are going ahead as planned, but face major budget cuts as Rio’s organising committee has not raised enough to fund the event because of Brazil’s struggling economy and poor ticket sales.
