Russia will be banned from competing in the upcoming Paralympic Games due to the doping scandal, the president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Philip Craven said on Sunday.
He said that the report Richard McLaren had made for for the World Anti-Doping Agency was taken into account.
“The McLaren report marked one of the darkest days in the history of all sport. The actions were a body blow to clean, fair, honest sport. The Russia state-run program of cheating questioned the integrity and credibility of sport as we know it. The facts really do hurt. The system in Russia is broken, corrupted and entirely compromised. Their medals over morals mentality disgusts me. The Russian government has failed its athletes. It shows a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of athletes. Their thirst for glory at all costs has damaged all sports,” Craven stressed.
That is why IPC decided to suspend the Russian Paralympic Committee’s (RPC) membership and hence ban the Russia team from the Paralympic Games, he said.
Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and President of the country’s Paralympic Committee Vladimir Lukin announced their intention to file a lawsuit with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.
‘Hundreds of cases’
The WADA report, based on an independent investigation by commission led by Richard McLaren, said that the Ministry of Sports of Russia kept control over the athletes’ tests, manipulated and even replaced them with the help of the FSB and the Center of Athletic Training of Russia’s teams in Moscow and Sochi.
The commission discovered hundreds of cases of concealment of Russian sportsmen’s tests positive for doping in the period of 2012 and 2015, including during the Paralympic Games in Sochi.
Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be held on September 7-18. Four years ago in London, Russia was ranked second in the overall medal standings (36 gold, 38 silver and 28 bronze medals).
belsat.eu, photo by Russia’s Paralympic Committee
