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Entire Russian Team Banned From Participating In Paralympic Games

"it is our responsibility to ensure fair competition, so that athletes can have confidence that they are competing on a level playing field."
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By 

Reporter, HuffPost

Russia’s entire athletic delegation has been banned from the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

The International Paralympic Committee on Sunday announced Russia’s suspension due to a widespread doping scandal. The IPC board’s decision was unanimous. 

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Anna Petukhova (L) and Kseniya Ovsyannikov, members of the Russian wheelchair fencing team, at a press conference on the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games.
Vladimir Gerdo/Getty Images

“This decision has placed a huge burden upon all our shoulders, but it’s a decision we’ve had to take in the best interests of the Paralympic Movement,” IPC President Sir Philip Craven said in a statement. 

The ban was anticipated before the announcement as part of the fallout from Team Russia’s massive Olympic doping scandal. 

A World Anti-Doping Agency panel last November released an explosive report that accused the Russian government of helping its athletes cheat doping tests. The WADA later hired Toronto lawyer Richard McLaren to conduct an independent investigation into Russia’s program; the so-called McLaren Report, released in July, concluded that Russia’s ministry of sports helped manipulate doping tests so that drug-enhanced athletes would be sure to pass them. 

Russia’s Paralympic athletes have historically been among the top contenders in the world games. During the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, Russia ranked second overall in the gold medal count, placing only behind China. 

Russia has three weeks to appeal the IPC’s decision. If the ban is upheld, it will mark the first time an entire country’s delegation has been barred from the games, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Other Russian athletes competing in Rio narrowly managed to escape the fate now facing their Paralympic counterparts. Just weeks before the start of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee announced there would be no blanket ban on Russia’s athletes. 

Athletes were tested on an individual basis and 271 of 387 were ultimately cleared to participate in the games. 

“Ultimately, as the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement, it is our responsibility to ensure fair competition, so that athletes can have confidence that they are competing on a level playing field,” Crave said. “This is vital to the integrity and credibility of Paralympic sport, and in order to achieve this it is fundamental that each member abides by the rules.”

The Rio Paralympics, in which athletes with disabilities compete in sports that include wheelchair fencing, swimming and taekwondo, start Sept. 7.

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Before You Go

The Real 2016 Rio Summer Olympics
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An anti-government demonstrator, with a sticker which reads "boycott" on his hand, attends a protest on the Rio de Janeiro state economic crisis and against 2016 Rio Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 6, 2016. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
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An anti-government demonstrator, with a sticker which reads "boycott" on his mask, attends a protest on the Rio de Janeiro state economic crisis and against 2016 Rio Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 6, 2016. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
(03 of14)
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Dead fish are pictured on the banks of the Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro February 24, 2015. International Olympic Committee members meeting in Rio de Janeiro this week will understand if its waters are not completely clean for the sailing events in 2016, the state's governor said on Monday. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes (BRAZIL - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS ENVIRONMENT) (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
(04 of14)
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Rubbish covers the banks of Cunha channel, which flows into Guanabara Bay, in Rio de Janeiro March 31, 2015. As part of its Olympic bid, Rio promised to clean up 80 percent of the bay for the games, where will be host the sailing event. But local government officials have already admitted that a cleanup by 2016 is not achievable. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes (credit:Sergio Moraes / Reuters)
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Police officers and firemen welcome passengers with a banner reading 'Welcome to Hell' as they protest against the government for delay in their salary payments at Tom Jobim International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 4, 2016.The Police has been mounting street protests since last week, saying that they have not been fully paid for months as Rio state's budget hovers on the edge of bankruptcy. Earlier this month, the state authorities in Rio declared 'state of public calamity 'about a major crisis budget in order to release emergency funds to finance the Olympic Games due to start in August. / AFP / VANDERLEI ALMEIDA (Photo credit should read VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:VANDERLEI ALMEIDA via Getty Images)
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Police officers and firemen demonstrate at the international arrivals gate as they protest against the government for delay in their salary payments at Tom Jobim International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 4, 2016.The Police has been mounting street protests since last week, saying that they have not been fully paid for months as Rio state's budget hovers on the edge of bankruptcy. Earlier this month, the state authorities in Rio declared 'state of public calamity 'about a major crisis budget in order to release emergency funds to finance the Olympic Games due to start in August. / AFP / VANDERLEI ALMEIDA (Photo credit should read VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:VANDERLEI ALMEIDA via Getty Images)
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Maria da Penha is reflected in a mirror as she carries her belongings near the debris of her house after its demolition at Vila Autodromo community surrounded by construction work for the Rio 2016 Olympic Park, where a few families are still fighting against eviction in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
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Partially demolished houses are pictured in the Vila Autodromo slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
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Marcio Moza is pictured in front of his house as he sits in the debris of a just demolished house, at Vila Autodromo community surrounded by construction work for the Rio 2016 Olympic Park, where a few families are still fighting against eviction in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
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A worker walks at the work site of the Parque Olimpico Rio 2016 (Rio 2016 Olympic Park), which is being constructed over the former Jacarepagua race track, during a press tour in Rio de Janeiro November 20, 2012. Members of Organising Committee of the London 2012 Olympic Games are in Rio to attend the International Olympic Committee (IOC) official debriefing of the London 2012 games with Rio 2016 Olympic Games Organising Committee. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes (BRAZIL - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION) (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
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Black vultures stand on a goalpost at a soccer field at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014. Brazil will deploy federal troops to Rio de Janeiro to help quell a surge in violent crime following attacks by drug traffickers on police posts in three slums on the north side of the city, government officials said on Friday. Less than three months before Rio welcomes tens of thousands of foreign soccer fans for the World Cup, the attacks cast new doubts on government efforts to expel gangs from slums using a strong police presence. The city will host the Olympics in 2016. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes (BRAZIL - Tags: CRIME LAW ANIMALS) (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
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Washed clothes hang outside a house in the Vila Autodromo slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 31, 2015. As sports arenas rise up around them and neighbours' houses are demolished, around 50 families remain in Vila Autodromo, a favela bordering the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro. About half of those refuse to leave the favela, which they describe as "paradise" because of a lack of violence compared with poor areas elsewhere in the city. With a year until the Games come to Brazil, over 90 percent of residents have already left after accepting compensation. The holdouts, despite violent run-ins with police, vow to fight eviction whatever the cost. Living in a ghost town with sporadic access to water and electricity, the families have become a symbol against the use of the Olympic Games to modernize Rio, a move critics say is only benefiting the rich. REUTERS/Ricardo MoraesPICTURE 10 OF 28 FOR WIDER IMAGE STORY "FIGHTING OLYMPIC EVICTION IN RIO FAVELA" SEARCH "RICARDO PARADISE" FOR ALL IMAGES (credit:Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
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