The Russian Paralympic Committee reportedly announced that the ban on Russian athletes at the Paralympic Games had been extended to the 2018 Winter Paralympics, but the IPC denies the claim.
Multiple media outlets, including Inside The Games reported that the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) issued a press release claiming that the ban currently keeping Russian athletes out of the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympics had been extended to include the 2018 Winter Paralympics. The quote from the original release, per Inside The Games:
“The decision taken by the IPC, upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding Russian Paralympians being excluded from the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, has also been extended to include the Winter Games in 2018 in Pyeongchang,” the RPC said.
But the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) denied that claim, and the Russian Paralympic Committee has since altered its release and no longer includes that quote, per Inside The Games.
The discrepancy appears to come with the nuance of the ban. The RPC is currently suspended, and the IPC is “currently in the process of developing the steps the Russian Paralympic Committee will need to take to meet its membership obligations.” That means the RPC will have to take steps in the future before its athletes can become eligible for IPC competition again.
That means the RPC wasn’t technically wrong in saying it was banned through 2018. If no changes are made, or the changes are still not up to IPC standards, by 2018, the nation would seemingly remain suspended. But the IPC statement suggests a 2018 ban isn’t set in stone, provided the RPC can regain its membership by then.
Russia’s athletes remain banned from the 2016 Paralympics, which start next month in Rio de Janeiro. An appeal to the CAS was denied and the ban upheld last week.
