Russia failed to provide evidence against original decision
Decision unlawful and politically motivated — Mutko
ZURICH — 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) said Tuesday.
The decision to exclude Russia’s team, initially made on Aug. 7 by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), means at least 250 competitors from the country are now set to miss the Sept. 7-18 event.
The IPC went further than the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which stopped short of a blanket ban on Russia at this month’s Rio Games and left the decision instead in the hands of international sports federations.
CAS, sport’s highest tribunal, said its panel found the IPC “did not violate any procedural rule in dealing with the disciplinary process” which led to Russia’s suspension.
It added 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.”
According to the TASS news agency, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko called the CAS decision unlawful and politically motivated.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday: “The story with Russian doping is a thick and very disgusting cocktail with 80 percent politics and 20 percent doping proper.
“In some countries they find doping very quickly, in others never. ... This is complete double standards,” he added.
The whole dispute centers on a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report 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 and Paralympic events.
Russia previously said the IPC’s decision was politically motivated and would punish dozens of innocent athletes.
Russian Paralympic Committee President Vladimir Lukin had sought to portray his athletes as independent from the Moscow government.
But the IPC said it did not believe that disabled Olympic hopefuls were untouched by the pervasive cheating in the country.
Although not widely followed or celebrated in Russia, its para-athletes are some of the best in the world.
The team topped the medal table at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in the Russian city of Sochi after taking second place behind China at London 2012.
The country’s exclusion from Rio will hit hard in a country that has long drawn pride and prestige from its history of sporting success.
Following Tuesday’s verdict, the IPC said Russia had been banned for its inability to fulfill its membership “responsibilities and obligations,” particularly the anti-doping code.
“Although we are pleased with the decision, it is not a day for celebration and we have enormous sympathy for the Russian athletes who will now miss out on the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games,” said IPC President Philip Craven in a statement. “It is a sad day for the Paralympic Movement but we hope also a new beginning,” he said, adding that he wanted the ruling to be a “catalyst for change” in Russia.
