Paralympic Team Compatition In Rio - Sans the Russians?

Paralympics
All Russian athletes to be banned from Paralympic Games in Rio
The International Paralympic Committee is set to do what its Olympic counterpart did not and ban Russia outright from its Games later this month, the Observer has learned.
In the wake of the publication of Professor Richard McLaren’s report that revealed jaw-dropping details of systemic doping in Russia, the IPC provisionally suspended Russia from the Paralympics.


Richard McLaren accuses IOC of misrepresenting doping findings
The Wada-commissioned lawyer is frustrated that his report, which exposed Russian state-sponsored doping before Rio 2016, has been misconstrued
It is understood that after gathering further evidence from McLaren and giving the Russian Paralympic Committee the opportunity to make its case, a provisional decision has been made. The IPC is to announce its decision at a press conference in Rio on Sunday.
The IPC board met the Russians in Bonn on Wednesday to consider its written and oral arguments in a three-hour meeting. Barring a last minute change of heart, the Russian Paralympic Committee is likely to be banned on the basis that McLaren’s report proved that the Russian system was so compromised it could not be trusted.
McLaren, who discovered systemic doping across most Olympic sports over a period of four years as well as 35 “disappearing positives” from Paralympic disciplines, this week accused the International Olympic Committee of misinterpreting his findings.
Despite widespread calls for a blanket ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency and its national counterparts, the IOC instead left it up to international federations to decide if Russians could compete.
With only athletics, rowing, weightlifting and canoeing taking a hard line, the final size of the Russian team was announced at 271.
But several Russian athletes, including the swimmer Yuliya Efimova, could also be readmitted after the court of arbitration for sport ruled that the IOC’s ban on those who had previously served sanctions would not be upheld.
The IPC is likely to have come under extreme pressure to follow the IOC’s lead but is believed to be resolved to make its own decision based on the evidence. Unlike the IOC, the IPC has been in touch with McLaren to seek further evidence and information. As well as the 35 “disappearing positive” Russian drug tests across Paralympic sport between 2012 and 2015, the report confirmed the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, where Russia won three times as many medals as any other country, was compromised by swapped samples.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, front centre, meets the national Paralympic team in Moscow’s Kremlin in September 2012 after they returned from London after taking part in the Paralympic Games. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
McLaren said this past week: “They have consulted with me very closely. We have done forensic work with them, we’re in the process of doing analytical work. They were in contact with me within hours of my report being published.”
The IPC president, Sir Philip Craven, is believed to view the decision as the most important and one of the most difficult his movement has ever faced. He said last month: “McLaren’s findings are of serious concern for everyone committed to clean and honest sport. The additional information we have been provided with by Richard McLaren includes the names of the Para athletes associated with the 35 ‘disappearing positive samples’ from the Moscow laboratory highlighted in the report.
“We are also urgently following up on McLaren’s recommendation for 19 samples from the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games to be sent for further analysis, having been identified as part of the sample-swapping regime in place during the Games.”
The IPC released a statement saying they were yet to announce their decision and would do so at midday Rio time (4pm BST) on Sunday.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/06/russian-athletes-banned-paralympic-games-rio

Russia Loses Appeal Against Paralympics Ban

The imbroglio centers on a report that found the Russian government and the FSB covered up hundreds of doping cases across the majority of Olympic sports, as well as Paralympic events.

08/23/2016 06:47 am ET
 
By Brian Homewood
ZURICH (Reuters) - Russia has lost its appeal against its ban from next month’s Rio Paralympics because of a state-sponsored doping program, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), sports highest tribunal, said on Tuesday.
The decision to exclude Russia’s entire Paralympics team, initially made on Aug. 7 by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), means at least 250 Russian competitors are set to miss the Sept. 7-18 event.
CAS said its panel found the IPC “did not violate any procedural rule in dealing with the disciplinary process” which led to Russia’s suspension from the event.
It added that the ruling was “proportionate in the circumstances” and that the Russian Paralympic Committee “did not file any evidence contradicting the facts on which the IPC decision was based”.
The IPC had gone further than the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which stopped short of a blanket ban on Russia at this month’s Rio Olympics, leaving the decision instead in the hands of international sports federations.
The imbroglio centers on a report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that found the Russian government and the FSB security service had over years covered up hundreds of doping cases across the majority of Olympic sports, as well as Paralympic events.
Russia has said that the IPC’s decision is politically motivated and will punish dozens of innocent athletes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russia-paralympics-2016-ban_us_57bc27fee4b0b51733a59f8a?section=&