Craven 'Optimistic' on Russia's Return to Paralympics

(ATR) International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven says he believes the Russian Paralympic Committee will be reinstated "sooner rather than later".

"But it’s not a tick box exercise, as part of the process we need to see significant practical and cultural change in Russia in terms of anti-doping, and I’m confident we will," Craven said during the keynote address of the ‘Doping in Sport: How the Culture Might Change’ symposium hosted at Pepperdine Law School by the Foundation for Global Sports Development.

While Craven didn’t say whether "sooner" meant before the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympics in South Korea next March, he says he has been encouraged by the work done in Russia thus far and that a meeting with members of the Russian State Duma at the IPC headquarters in Bonn, Germany this March was positive.

The IPC has a five-member task force charged with being a liaison to the RPC and ensuring that "significant practical and cultural changes" are made within the country’s anti-doping culture and practices.

The RPC was suspended on Aug. 7, 2016, as the Rio 2016 Olympics were kicking into gear. While some viewed the IPC’s decision to suspend the entire Russian Paralympic team from Rio 2016 as a somewhat defiant move against the IOC, Craven says "the most difficult governance decision to date" was made unanimously in order to protect the Paralympic Movement.

"We had sufficient evidence that Russia’s state sponsored doping program extended to Paralympic sport," Craven says referring to the release of the WADA-commissioned report by Richard McLaren detailing the extent of Russia’s doping programs.

"It was a huge burden on our shoulder but a decision we had to take."

Craven is optimistic that Russia will rejoin the movement in part so that media headlines regarding sport aren’t focused on the negativity of doping scandals.

"In my view, if you look at history books, the perceived problem of doping in sport has been blown out of proportion [by the media]," Craven says. "Sadly, doping in sport does exist today, but if you read the news today you would think it was rife within all athletes in our sports.

"This small group of people is grabbing the headlines at the moment and tarnishing the reputation of sport for the rest of us."

While Craven acknowledges that the doping culture must change to regain the integrity of international sport, he admits there is never likely to be a complete solution.

"I don’t think doping in sport will ever be fully eradicated," Craven said. "There will always be a small minority of people insistent of breaking the rules regardless of the consequences. But we must protect those who don’t have a win-at-all-costs mentality."

Following Craven’s keynote, New York Times investigative journalist Rebecca Ruiz detailed the timeline of her investigation into the Russian doping crisis and how pressure from the media allowed this story to come to light.

Two panel discussions followed that were moderated by ESPN journalist T.J. Quinn and featured sports attorneys, arbitrators for the Court of Arbitration for Sport and legal representatives of American professional leagues such as the MLB and NFL. The panelists debated the steps taken by the IOC and IPC last summer in regards to the Russian teams and how the process played out in CAS.

The two key messages the panelists agreed upon: First, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the governance and independence issues that led to mixed messages from the IOC and WADA in trying to deal with the Russian doping crisis, and second, greater athlete education is paramount in deterring doping.

Independent testing authorities, WADA’s ability to initiate investigations and proper athlete education have been proposed as methods to help slow down the doping crisis in sport that continues to manifest itself. The IOC’s retesting program identifies athletes on nearly a weekly basis who cheated their way to medals at the Beijing and London Olympics with undoubtedly more to follow as the retests extend to the Sochi 2014 Games.

The clock is now quickly winding down for a decision to be made by both the IOC and IPC regarding Russia’s participation in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games. While Craven says he is optimistic Russia will rejoin the movements soon, it is clear a mountain of work still lies ahead for the country that has yet to admit it has damaged clean sport.

Written by Kevin Nutleyin Malibu, California

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