Russian athletes to be barred from Rio 2016 Paralympics
Russian athletes are to be banned from taking part in the Paralympic Games in Rio later this month.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has suspended Russian athletes provisionally in response to the report from Professor Richard McLaren that uncovered the extent of doping in Russia, according to the Observer.
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The IPC is set to announce the decision on Sunday, the Observer said, having obtained extra evidence from McLaren. The board of the IPC had a three-hour meeting with the Russian Paralympic Committee in Bonn on Wednesday to hear its side of the argument; it is likely that the IPC will announce that the Russians are barred.
The decision comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed Russian athletes to compete in the Rio Olympics despite McLaren's findings of systemic doping over a four-year period, sparking a backlash from the sporting community.
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Jack Robertson, the former chief investigator of the World Anti-Doping Agency – who helped stop Lance Armstrong – attacked the IOC's decision this week.
"The action the IOC took has forever set a bar for how the most outrageous doping and cover up and corruption possible will be treated in the future," Robertson told ProPublica.
"Those involved in running sport are former athletes, so somehow I figured that they would have honour and integrity. But sport is seriously broken."