"The IPC has considerable sympathy for all of the Russian athletes who are now unable to participate in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Indeed, the main goal of the IPC is to enable Para athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world. Tragically, however, the Russian authorities have denied their athletes this chance through their actions," Xavier Gonzalez, the IPC’s chief executive officer, was quoted as saying in the press release.
Last week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected Russia's appeal against the IPC ban on the Russian team's participation in the September 7-18 Rio Paralympics. Russia appealed the CAS ruling in the Swiss Federal Supreme Court but that appeal was also rejected.
The ban, announced on August 7, was mainly influenced by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) McLaren report on the alleged widespread use of performance enhancing substances by Russian athletes. The report, however, hardly mentioned Russian Paralympic athletes, apart from in relation to a list of 35 allegedly disappeared doping samples.
