Russia "blamed politics for a decision to bar its Paralympians from next month's Rio Games" because of a state-sponsored doping program, saying on Monday that "it would take legal measures to try to overturn the ban," according to Andrew Osborn of REUTERS. The decision to exclude Russia's entire Paralympics team, announced on Sunday by the Int'l Paralympic Committee, "means at least 250 Russian competitors are set to miss the Sept. 7-18 Paralympics." On Monday, Russian Paralympic Committee President Vladimir Lukin said that "to bar his country's Paralympians from Rio would be a grave human rights violation." He said, "The overwhelming majority of sports people who were barred from taking part in the Games were absolutely clean sports people. What comes first, the crime or the punishment?" Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that Moscow would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, sport's highest court, and Lukin "confirmed that Russia would press ahead with the legal challenge." Russian President Vladimir Putin himself "has also attributed the doping scandal to a political plot, a view widely shared in Russia" (REUTERS, 8/8).
BROKEN SYSTEM: The BBC reported announcing the decision, IPC President Philip Craven said that Russia's anti-doping system is "broken, corrupted and entirely compromised." In response, Lukin said his committee was "not even mentioned" in the McLaren report and this action would mean "lives are broken." He added, "Inevitably, suspicions arise that this is provoked by something unsportsmanlike, something else. We absolutely do not want to quarrel, get carried away with emotions. Only the weak get carried away with emotions" (BBC, 8/8).
'BEYOND BELIEF': AL JAZEERA reported Lukin said that he "was ready to provide evidence" that the Russian team had run a tight anti-doping program. Mutko called the ban "beyond belief." Mutko: "It's an unprecedented decision. I don't understand what it's based on" (AL JAZEERA, 8/8). UKRAINE TODAY reported Russian Ministry of Foreign Relations Press Officer Maria Zakharova wrote in a Facebook post that the IPC's decision "shocks with meanness and inhumanity." Zakharova said, "This is a treachery of the highest human rights standards that form the basis of the modern world." Russia's national federation of sport for disabled people "has already appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport" (UKRAINE TODAY, 8/8). OMNISPORT reported Russia's blanket ban from the 2016 Paralympics "has been heavily criticised by World Archery." World Archery said that "no Russian archers had been implicated by the McLaren report." World Archery said in a statement, "World Archery strongly disagrees with the ban, which goes against the principles of inclusion and fair play, and considers the decision to have been taken based on a report that is unfinished and should remain ongoing until its mandate is completed, as stated by the IOC and WADA. ... IPC's decision was taken without any proper consultation with the relevant federations responsible for the sports at the Paralympic Games, and against the best interests of these federations" (OMNISPORT, 8/7).
