Report: Paralympic officials considering Russian ban
Your teams on the go or at home. Personalize SI with our new App. Install on iOS or Android.
Officials are considering banning the Russian national team from this summer’s Paralympics after the World Anti-Doping Agency has exposed evidence of a state-run doping scheme that has also put the country's status for the Olympics in jeopardy, according to the New York Times.
At least 35 positive doping tests by Russian Paralympians had been covered up by the Russian sports ministry since 2011, according to the Times. An additional 19 doping samples from the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi were tampered with, much like the samples of other Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The Paralympic Games open on September 7. A vote will take place on Aug. 1 to determine whether or not to suspend Russia.
• Russia loses appeal against Olympic track and field ban
Russia's track and field team will not be allowed to compete at the Summer Games in Rio after the WADA report put pressure on the International Association of Athletics Federation, track and field's governing body, to suspend the nation from international competition.
Re-testing of doping samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics has found 98 athletes used performance enhancing drugs at the Summer Games. All of the names of those athletes has not been released. 23 of the athletes won medals at the Summer Games in Beijing.
