Russia banned from Paralympics: What, when, why?

On Sunday, Aug. 7, the head of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Sir Philip Craven, announced that the Russian Paralympic Committee had been suspended and Russian para-athletes were banned from competing in any international events. This means that some 270 Russian athletes may miss the Rio Paralympics, to be held on Sept. 7-18.

Craven criticized Russian officials for creating a state-run system to cover up doping violations, describing the anti-doping system in Russia as “broken, corrupted and entirely compromised." The IPC president’s position is based on the report of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission headed by Richard McLaren, which – among other things – revealed that doping tests of 27 para-athletes at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics were switched.

The McLaren report confirmed the controversial allegations made by the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who in an interview with the New York Times in May said that between 2011 and 2015 Russia had been running a state-sponsored system to conceal positive doping tests. At the Sochi Paralympics, Russia came first in the medal count by some distance, with 13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals.

The McLaren report, which was presented in Toronto on July 18, is considered to be a preliminary one. No Russian para-athletes have yet been disqualified for doping.

The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee are two independent organizations, which can adopt differing decisions. The IOC has decided not to apply the principle of collective responsibility (IOC president Thomas Bach described a blanket ban on Russia as a "nuclear option" and clean athletes who would have been affected by it as "collateral damage") and ruled that bans were to be adopted at the level of the relevant federations.

The IPC, however, concluded that the violations committed by Russia are so grave that a complete ban would be an appropriate sanction. At the same time, Philip Craven expressed sympathy for clean Russian para-athletes, who, according to him, had been "catastrophically failed" by the Russian government. 

The difference in the two organizations’ positions could also be attributed to the difference in their organizational structures. Disability sport is more centralized, so the IPC can take a decision for all federations. The IOC, as a looser association, has fewer powers and must take into account the positions of the federations, many of which were opposed to banning Russian athletes from the Olympics.

The IPC’s accusations concern not individual athletes but Russian officials. "This situation is not about athletes cheating a system, but about a state-run system that is cheating the athletes," Craven told journalists on Aug. 7.

Furthermore, the IPC did not disqualify individual athletes but suspended the whole Russian Paralympic Committee, temporarily banning Russian para-athletes from competing in any international events. The first of these events will be the Rio Paralympics. If the ban is not lifted, in winter it will affect those para-athletes who compete in winter sports too.

According to the president of the Russian Paralympic Committee, Vladimir Lukin, within 21 days Russia will file an appeal against the IPC ruling with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In the days leading up to the Rio Olympics, the CAS lifted earlier bans on several Russian athletes, including swimmer Yuliya Efimova, so para-athletes can hope for a positive outcome. At the same time, the CAS earlier rejected appeals filed by Russian track and field athletes and weightlifters against their relevant federations’ decisions to ban them from Rio.

Russian athletes will receive legal aid from the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers. Its state secretary Konstantin Dobrynin told the R-Sport news agency that there are legal mechanisms for overturning the IPC ruling.

“This is a blatant violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which bans any form of discrimination and, in its Article 5, makes it the obligation of State Parties (which are also members of the International Paralympic Committee) to guarantee to persons with disabilities effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds,” he said.