Russia Paralympic Ban to Stay

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons has said there is no immediate prospect of the organization, following the International Olympic Committee, in lifting its ban on Russia.

The Russian Paralympic Committee is banned by IPC after failing to meet the two criteria required for reinstatement, the full reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency by the World Anti-Doping Agency and an official response to the findings of the McLaren Report, Insidethegames.biz reported.

The report accused Russia of the systematic manipulation of the doping program at events, including the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi.

The IPC takes the opposite stance to the IOC, which reinstated the Russian Olympic Committee three days after the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics with several of its members saying they wanted to “draw a line” under the country’s doping scandal.

Parsons told AFP that Russia, which is officially competing as Neutral Paralympic Athletes, “had progressed a lot”. But he insisted the IPC would not change its stance on RPC.

“The situation is very clear because we have agreed reinstatement criteria with the Russian Paralympic Committee,” Parsons said. “We cannot right after these Games, for example, lift the suspension; they have to meet these criteria.”

Of the four athletes to fail doping tests at last month’s Winter Olympics, two of them were members of the neutral Olympic Athletes from Russia team.

Parsons said he had no concerns, however, over Russians competing at the Paralympics.

“We can, with a certain degree of confidence ... say that these 30 athletes competing here are clean,” he told AFP.

On March 11, IPC claimed the extension of its cooperation agreement with IOC will not see it be put under pressure to reinstate RPC.

With the IPC becoming increasingly reliant on IOC for funding and support, it has been suggested that the new deal between the two organizations, which will see them cooperate until 2032, could lead to the situation arising.

The presence of Russian athletes at the Paralympics has been criticized in some quarters. German Paralympic Committee President Friedhelm Julius Beucher described the IPC’s decision as “incomprehensible” and as “a slap in the face of clean athletes and tamper-free sports structures”.