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Russia Flat-Out Banned from Paralympics After Doping Scandal

The decision stands in stark contrast with the International Olympic Committee's partial-ban decision.

More from Sir Phil Craven on why Russia wasn't welcome at Rio Paralympics pic.twitter.com/MyTSmn8FK3
— Dan Roan (@danroan) August 7, 2016

CONFIRMED:
Russia banned from Paralympics for running state-sponsored doping programme
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) August 7, 2016

After a long investigation into the state-wide doping scandal that has rocked the Russian Paralympic and Olympic teams alike, the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) has officially issued a blanket ban for Russian athletes in the Paralympic Games.

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The decision stands in stark contrast to the terms set out by the International Olympic Committee, which has drawn ire for passing the buck to the international federations in charge of each sport. The IOC's decision has resulted in the ban of only 119 of the 387 Russian Olympic athletes, whereas the IPC has ruled to ban all 267 Russian Paralympic athletes across 18 sports.

The IPC's decision follows a damning report released last month that implicated 35 Russian Paralympics athletes in instances of "disappearing positive samples" from a Moscow laboratory.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven delivered the following address:

"The Russian Paralympic Committee is currently unable to ensure compliance with, and the enforcement of, the IPC's anti-doping code and the world's anti-doping code within its own jurisdiction. Therefore, it cannot fulfull its fundamental obligactions as an IPC member, and as a result, the IPC governing board has resolved to suspend the Russian Paralympic Committee with immediate effect."

Craven is being heralded for his leadership and character for admonishing Russia's actions. During the conference, he said, "Russian government has catastrophically failed their athletes. The medals over morals attitude disgusts me," later adding "this is not about athletes cheating the system, but the state run system that is cheating athletes."