Canadian paralympic committee statement regarding suspension of Russia at 2018 winter paralympic games

Para athletes and officials implicated by anti-doping investigations and reports prohibited from taking part in the Games

OTTAWA, Jan. 29, 2018 /CNW/ - Today, the International Paralympic Committee announced during a press conference that "although it is maintaining the suspension of the Russian Paralympic Committee, it will allow eligible neutral athletes who meet strict criteria to compete at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games."

Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA) as they will be known will compete in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, snowboard and wheelchair curling. Under the sport rules for Para ice hockey, an NPA team could not be considered as Russia had missed the opportunity to qualify.

The IPC suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee on Sunday, August 7, 2016 due to its inability to fulfil its IPC membership responsibilities and obligations, in particular its obligation to comply with the IPC Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Code.

Joint Statement by:
Marc-André Fabien – President, Canadian Paralympic Committee
Karen O'Neill – CEO, Canadian Paralympic Committee

"The Canadian Paralympic Committee supports the International Paralympic Committee's decision to uphold its suspension on the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) due to its inability to meet the criteria set for reinstatement. We do acknowledge the steps the RPC has taken to improve its governance and anti-doping procedures and practices.

We also support the IPC's decision to suspend all Russian athletes and officials identified in the McLaren report as non-compliant to the anti-doping code. We have confidence in the IPC that a thorough review has been completed to ensure that athletes from Russia allowed to compete as neutral meet the requirements for clean sport.

As a community, we feel the best playing field is a fair playing field. Cheating has no place in Paralympic Sport. Our athletes, our coaches, our community live by this. We are confident in our athletes and our coaches that they will bring their best performances forward in PyeongChang and make our country proud.  

We believe that this decision upholds the values of clean sport and fair play within our movement.

We continue to remain focused on providing a high performance, distraction-free environment for Team Canada's Paralympic athletes who are getting ready to compete in PyeongChang March 9-18."

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MEDIA CONTACTS: Nicole Watts, Manager, Public Relations, Canadian Paralympic Committee, [email protected], 613-569-4333 x262; Martin Richard, Executive Director, Communications and Brand, Canadian Paralympic Committee, [email protected], 613-569-4333 x224