(ATR) The International Paralympic Committee suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee after overwhelming evidence showed a "broken system," in violation of the body’s anti-doping code.
The suspension means that all Russian para-athletes are barred from competing in any IPC sanctioned event, including the upcoming Rio 2016 Paralympics. As part of the suspension Russia is forbidden from hosting any Paralympic sanctioned event, as well.
Craven told reporters that the IPC’s decision was not one about individual justice, but about "a state run system cheating Russian athletes." The IPC began compiling evidence after the release of the McLaren report about the possibility of tampered samples for Russian para-athletes. Craven said that only one paragraph in the report mentioned para-sport, creating a limited time frame to investigate potential evidence.
Reacting to the news, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the IPC'sdecision to bar the entire Russian Paralympic team was "strikingly filthy and inhumane", according to news agency TASS, which quoted the comment from her Facebook account. "It is a betrayal of those high human rights standards the modern world is resting on."
Working with McLaren’s team, the IPC found 45 samples from 44 athletes that were flagged by Russian authorities to be manipulated by the Moscow doping lab. Of those samples, 17 were from athletes that do not compete in sports on the Paralympic program. The remaining samples were from eight Paralympic Games sports, five in the Summer Games and three in the Winter Games. The IPC identified, so far, 11 of the 27 remaining samples as tampered so that an athlete flagged for a positive test would escape punishment.
The IPC then retested 21 samples from the Sochi 2014 Olympics, of which 19 could be analyzed. DNA evidence showed that 18 of the samples were manipulated so that the urine found within them came from one athlete.
The IPC Governing Board then invited the Russian Paralympic Committee to present their case on July 29 and August 3. After presenting to the board, the body took the decision to suspend the Russian NPC effective immediately.
"The anti-doping system in Russia is broken, corrupted, and entirely compromised," Craven said to reporters. "The Paralympic movement is one giant family and I hoped something like this would never rear its ugly head in our movement.
"Individual [Russian] athletes are probably clean, but until they change the system, the Russian Paralympic committee entering athletes into competitions that are clean then that is something we cannot accept."
Now, the Russian NPC has 21 days to appeal to the IPC on the decision. The IPC will then appoint a three-person independent panel to hear the appeal. If the appeal is denied the Russian NPC may still appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. An IPC spokesperson told reporters after the press conference that the IPC may change its rules to allow the NPC to appeal straight to CAS to hurry the process up.
Craven stressed repeatedly that the IPC was able to make today’s decision because of the organizational structure of the body. Craven would not criticize the IOC for the decision to leave the fallout from the McLaren report up to the international sport federations. He said, as an IOC member, he was not "diametrically opposed" to the Executive Board decision, which was taken in the interest of the Olympic movement.
The World-Anti Doping Agency came out in support for the IPC following the decision. The statement was a contrast by the body who merely "acknowledged" the decision taken by the IOC.
"WADA acknowledges the work conducted by the IPC in gathering more evidence from Professor McLaren from which to make its decision," the anti-doping body said in a statement. "The IPC’s decision follows the WADA Executive Committee’s 18 July recommendation to the IPC that they consider declining entries of athletes by the Russian Paralympic Committee for Rio 2016 as a result of the McLaren Report.
Craven said that the IPC has a lot of work to do in sifting through the legal ramifications of the decision, and working to create a system to even consider bringing Russia back into the Paralympic fold. More evidence of the state sponsored system continues to be uncovered, and the true extent of the system will only be known with more time.
"Today has shown a great threat to the sporting system for all," Craven concluded. "Fair play and abiding by the rules are fundamental, and if we start slacking off on that, we are finished."
Written by Aaron Bauerin Rio de Janeiro
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