Support The Moscow Times!

Russian Paralympic Team Barred From 2018 Winter Games Qualifiers

Maxim Stulov / Vedomosti

Russia’s Paralympic athletes have been barred from qualifying for the 2018 Winter Games in the South Korean city of ‎Pyeongchang, the country’s Paralympic Committee (RPC) has announced.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) ruled on Sunday that Russia had not implemented reforms to stamp out alleged widespread doping among the country’s athletes.

Russian Paralympians will not be allowed to compete in any of the qualification events leading up to the games, which are set begin on Feb. 9, 2018.

In a statement on its website, the RPC insisted that Russia’s Paralympians would continue to train for the games as normal.

“The suspension of the RPC, which dates back to Aug. 7 2016, remains in place because the RPC has not yet met reinstatement criteria,” the statement said.

“Should the RPC continue to co-operate fully with the IPC Taskforce and meet the reinstatement criteria in full before Pyeongchang 2018, then the IPC Governing Board will lift its suspension. In doing so it may then be possible for the RPC to enter athletes into qualification events.”

The RPC also stressed that the Russian government was not helping athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs.

“[The] fundamental position of the RPC [is that there should be] no doping in sport. Certain individuals guilty of anti-doping rules violation must suffer a severe penalty, there has never been and there is no state-sponsored doping scheme in Russia [sic].”

Russia’s Paralympians were also barred from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil’s Rio de Janerio. The decision was taken after a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accused the Kremlin of carrying out an elaborate scheme to cover-up athletes’ use of performance enhancing drugs. 

In the report, written by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, more than a thousand Russian athletes across 30 sports were connected with the use of performance-enhancing drugs or the concealment of positive urine samples.

Investigators found evidence that 12 Russian athletes who won medals at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi had substituted their drug test samples.

The Kremlin has denied the claims, which it says are “politically-motivated.”

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more