(ATR) The International Paralympics Committee Vice President tells Around the Rings that there "possibly" could be a repeat of Rio 2016, with the IPC and IOC choosing different sanctions against Russia for its doping transgressions.
"It’s probably not good for sport and good for tackling the actual issue at heart if that happens," Duane Kale told ATR during his visit to the 2017 ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship in La Jolla, California.
Ahead of the Rio Olympics, the IOC decided to leave it up to the individual federations as to how to penalize Russia while the IPC banned Russia entirely from the Paralympics. The difference in handling the issue stems from the setups of the two organizations.
"The National Paralympic Committees are our direct members and therefore come under our code of compliance and regulation and that is different from the IOC arrangement," explains Kale.
Like everyone else, the IPC is eagerly awaiting the IOC reports on the state-sponsored Russia doping program revealed in the McLaren Reports. The IOC Executive Board, meeting on Dec. 5, will hear the results of the Schmid Commission that has been tasked with investigating the strategic manipulation of results in the Sochi anti-doping lab. The Oswald Commission has been investigating individual anti-doping violations from Sochi 2014 and has found a number of Russian athletes guilty of doping already.
After hearing the reports, the IOC Executive Board will then determine the fate of the Russian team for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The IPC will make its decision at a board meeting scheduled for Dec. 22.
"We haven’t come to a decision and nor should we. We need to understand and evaluate what has been done," Kale says.
"It is fair to say that the Russian Paralympic Committee has done possibly all they can do at this point. There are still some aspects outside of the Paralympic Committee that we need as part of the task force program to be reconsidered and still need to be addressed so we’ll get a update on that in about a week’s time."
Homepage photo: Getty Images
Written and reported by Gerard Farekin La Jolla, California
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