--- title: Rio Paralympics: Banned Russians Can't Use Neutral Banner description: Russia's Paralympians will not be allowed to participate in this month's Games in Rio under a neutral banner canonical: https://time.com/4477149/russia-paralympics-rio-athletes-banned-neutral-banner/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-02T03:41:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:22:05.294Z article:section: Sports og:title: Russia's Paralympians Can't Compete Independently in Rio og:description: Russia was given a total ban from competing by the International Paralympic Committee og:url: https://time.com/4477149/russia-paralympics-rio-athletes-banned-neutral-banner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e7da846f889eff1/6988a4a997cdff1e676adada/gettyimages-596428940.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Russian paralympians in training og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russia's Paralympians Can't Compete Independently in Rio twitter:description: Russia was given a total ban from competing by the International Paralympic Committee twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e7da846f889eff1/6988a4a997cdff1e676adada/gettyimages-596428940.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russian Athletes Can't Compete Independently at Paralympics, Authorities Say > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Sep 2, 2016 3:41 AM UTC  Russian athletes, members of the Russian national Paralympic team, at the Oka training centre in Russia's Tula Region on Aug. 26, 2016. Russian athletes, members of the Russian national Paralympic team, at the Oka training centre in Russia's Tula Region on Aug. 26, 2016.Alexander Ryumin—TASS/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Sep 2, 2016 3:41 AM UTC Russia’s Paralympians will not be allowed to participate in this month’s Games in Rio [under a neutral banner](https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-athletes-cannot-compete-neutrals-ipc-234150820--oly.html), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said Thursday, further enforcing a blanket ban on the country after revelations of a widespread state-sponsored doping program. A statement from the committee said nearly 200 Russian athletes who applied to compete independently would not be granted the right to do so, Agence France-Presse reports. The ban by the IPC on Aug. 7 was in response to a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which claimed Russian athletes abused banned substances at the behest of government officials. Dozens of [Russian athletes](http://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/36881326) — including the entire track-and-field team — were banned from the recently concluded Rio 2016 Olympics. But none of the Paralympic athletes will be allowed to feature, for their country or otherwise. **Read next:** [_This Is What Russia’s Doping Scandal Means for the Olympics_](http://time.com/4421019/russia-olympic-doping-report/) “The main goal of the IPC is to enable Para athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world,” Xavier Gonzalez, the chief executive of the IPC, said in a statement. “Tragically, however, the Russian authorities have denied their athletes this chance through their actions.” \[[_AFP_](https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-athletes-cannot-compete-neutrals-ipc-234150820--oly.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4477149/russia-paralympics-rio-athletes-banned-neutral-banner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4477149/russia-paralympics-rio-athletes-banned-neutral-banner/"},"headline":"Russian Athletes Can't Compete Independently at Paralympics, Authorities Say","datePublished":"2016-09-02T03:41:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:22:05.294Z","description":"Russia was given a total ban from competing by the International Paralympic Committee","url":"https://time.com/4477149/russia-paralympics-rio-athletes-banned-neutral-banner/","keywords":["paralympics","russia","Athletes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e7da846f889eff1/6988a4a997cdff1e676adada/gettyimages-596428940.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e7da846f889eff1/6988a4a997cdff1e676adada/gettyimages-596428940.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian paralympians in training","caption":"Russian athletes, members of the Russian national Paralympic team, at the Oka training centre in Russia's Tula Region on Aug. 26, 2016.","creditText":"Alexander Ryumin—TASS/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/paralympics/","name":"paralympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4477149/russia-paralympics-rio-athletes-banned-neutral-banner/","name":"Russian Athletes Can't Compete Independently at Paralympics, Authorities Say"}}]}] ```