(ATR) International Paralympic Committee spokesperson Craig Spence says there is sufficient evidence of state sponsored doping in Russia to support the country’s Paralympic ban.
"The IPC is responsible for ensuring a fair and level playing field for all the athletes here at these Games," he says. "If Russia had been here and participating with a state sponsored doping system in operation, we wouldn’t be able to guarantee that and that’s why we took the stance that we did."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the ban is unfair and called the ban into further question following a cyber attack on the World Anti-Doping Agencies Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) database. TUEs are exemptions granted to Olympians and Paralympians who have used medication on WADA’s list of banned substances to treat medical conditions or emergencies.
A Russian hacker known as Fancy Bear leaked the TUEs of Olympic champions including Simone Biles of the United States, Mo Farah of Great Britain and Kim Brennan of Australia as well as several other athletes. Putin says the revealed personal information "raises a lot of questions."
"It seems as if healthy athletes are taking drugs legally that are prohibited for others, and people who are clearly suffering from serious illnesses, major disabilities, are suspected of taking some kind of substances and banned from the Paralympic Games," Putin said in a statement on Friday.
Spence negates Putin’s concerns and says that the evidence found by independent investigator Richard McLaren was "beyond a reasonable doubt" that a state sponsored doping system was in place and that Paralympic sports were affected in Russia.
"A number of positive tests were turned into negative ones in the laboratory through a phone call to the deputy sports minister. Every single one of those phone calls to the sports minister regarding those samples was a breach of the IPC anti-doping code."
Spence says that despite the absence of the 271 Russian Paralympians at Rio 2016, these Games have been the most competitive ever.
"These have been the most competitive Paralympic Games we’ve ever had," he says. "It’s never been harder to win a Paralympic gold medal."
Written by Kevin Nutley in Rio de Janeiro.
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