The Director of Media and Communications for the Paralympics, Craig Spence, however remained defiant on the IPC's position, speaking to Sputnik about the games, which are due to start on the September 7.
Despite the unprecedented setbacks this year's games have faced, Mr. Spence said that Paralympics will still go ahead as planned and that they are currently trying to work with the Organization Committee in Rio to sort out the financial deficit, which cast doubt on whether many countries would be able to participate at all.
"Well, the Organization Committee in Rio is responsible for raising funds and Brazil has faced serious economic problems in the last two years. Somewhere in the budget that they have earmarked for the Paralympic Games, the money just isn't there. So we have had to work with the Olympic Committee," Mr. Spence told Sputnik.
Recently, as many as 10 countries signaled that they may have to pull out of the games due to the financial woes. However, Mr. Spence denied that this would present an issue, being adamant that the downscaling of the event is not an option.
"There will be no downscaling, those 10 countries that said they cannot make the games, we have been in contact and they will be able to travel, so all 165 countries will be there on the 7th September," Mr. Spence told Sputnik.
#Rio2016 We do have a real problem w poor Paralympic ticket sales. Tix r NOT expensive, but trip to Rio is. We need to work out a solution 🤔
— Gringa Brazilien (@GringaBrazilien) August 22, 2016
In addition it has been noted that the troubles faced by the Paralympics this year could impact on future broadcasting and sponsorship deals.
"If anything — [the current troubles] could further harm the Paralympics' ability in future to acquire these lucrative television rights," Toronto-based sports journalist from catch-22sports.com, Mark Staniusz, told Sputnik.
Russian Paralympics Ban
The decision made by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to ban the entire Russian Paralympic team from the games has been described as rather controversial by many.
Policymakers in DC should do some soul-searching when only victory vs #Russia involves picking on the disabled. #Paralympics #Syria #Crimea
— Tony Cartalucci (@TonyCartalucci) August 23, 2016
The ban of the Russian Paralympics team was even more unexpected given the fact that a similar 'blanket ban' wasn't placed on Russia's Olympic team, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announcing that some Russian athletes could compete. Mr. Spence was unable to fully explain the motivation behind the different rulings, which are arguably inconsistent.
"Well the IPC and IOC operate under different structures. The IPC is independent and we only have one person responsible for the Winter and Summer Olympics, so we took a different route. The IOC took a different route also, which we respect," Mr. Spence told Sputnik.
The decision by #CAS to uphold the blanket ban on the #Russian #Paralympic team is not only immeasurably unjust but also immeasurably cruel.
— Marcus Papadopoulos (@DrMarcusP) August 23, 2016
The lack of detailed explanation for this inconsistency has provoked many to speculate on the real reason behind the ban of Russian Paralympians, with commentators noting Russia's previous successes in the Paralympic Games.
Mark Staniusz told Sputnik that the ban on the Russian Paralympic team has negatively impacted on the games and the quality of the competition as a whole:
"The way that the Paralympics are being run or the fact that Russia is no longer competing — which is one of your biggest markets and the most successful team in the last winter Paralympics — it definitely harms the state of Paralympic sport. And I obviously feel for the Russian athletes who've put so much effort in. But I also do feel bad for the athletes of other nations who have put in a lot of work to go against the best and unfortunately they have been robbed of that ability."
