Entire Russian team banned from Paralympics
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has banned the entire Russian team from competing in the Paralympics, saying it is punishment for the country’s “state-sponsored” doping mechanisms.
The IPC president, Philip Craven, announced Russia's suspension from the body on Sunday, saying a blanket ban was imposed on the Russian athletes in the Paralympics, which will begin on September 7 in Brazil.
Russia has been hit hard by allegations of doping involving its athletes and sports officials over the past months. Results of a probe by Canadian lawyer, Richard McLaren, released on July 18 claimed that doping in the country was state-orchestrated.
“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."
The ban is sharply different from the one imposed earlier by the International Olympic Committee, which allowed individual sports federations to decide whether Russians can compete in the Olympics, which is also being held in Brazil.
Craven said the IPC sought more information from McLaren as it had more time ahead of the Paralympics games. He said "further questions" had been asked of McLaren and studies were conducted on new samples.
“The doping culture that is polluting Russian sport stems from the Russian government and has now been uncovered in not one, but two independent reports commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency,” he said.
Russia again rejected the doping allegations and said the decision by Paralympics body was “beyond belief.”
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