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BSP-08
SPORT-DOPING-RUS-OLY-IPC
Paralympics lift Russia suspension to Kremlin ‘delight’
BONN, Feb 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The International Paralympic Committee said
Friday it will conditionally readmit Russia by March this year, lifting a
suspension imposed over a doping scandal.
A Kremlin spokesman responded by saying Russia was delighted.
“We are absolutely thrilled for our Paralympic athletes,” said Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“(Russia’s President Vladimir) Putin has always shown them full and
unconditional support.
“We hope the constructive and transparent work will allow the Russian
sports authorities to turn the page in their relations with international
bodies.”
The IPC say the ban will be lifted by 15 March 2019, providing the Russian
Paralympic Committee (RPC) adhere to a strict criteria.
“In August 2016 the IPC suspended the RPC because it was necessary and
proportionate to the situation we faced and essential to ensure clean sport,”
IPC president Andrew Parsons said in a statement.
“Twenty-nine months later it is the IPC governing board’s firm belief that
keeping the RPC suspended is no longer necessary and proportionate to the
situation we now face in Russia.”
The IPC said the Russian Paralympic Committee met the necessary criteria
for reinstatement — which must be maintained — after implementing a
‘robust’ testing programme under the guidance of world anti-doping agency
WADA and launched an anti-doping education programme for athletes and
coaches.
Stanislav Pozdniakov, chairman of the RPC, hailed the news as a “very
important step” but noted that “there is still much work to be done to
implement the instructions of the International Paralympic Committee”.
Russia’s Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov also pleased.
“It was a long-awaited decision, the Russian Paralympic Committee worked
for two and a half years for its rehabilitation, and we did a tremendous
job,” said Kolobkov in a statement.
Russia was officially kicked out of the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic
Games, as well as both editions in 2018, in the wake of the bombshell 2016
McLaren report, by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, which exposed a
state-backed doping programme.
However, some able-bodied Russian athletes, with clean records, were
allowed to compete under a neutral banner at the Olympics.
Last February, the IOC lifted the ban for athletes to compete at future
summer and winter Olympics, so the readmittance of their Paralympic team is
the latest step in Russia’s rehabilitation in the Olympic movement.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) still
officially bans Russian athletes from competition.
However, 42 Russian athletes were cleared last month by the IAAF to return
to events, albeit competing under a neutral banner, with the world athletics
championships to be held later this year in Doha, Qatar.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1925HRS