Russia has competed at the Paralympic Games as different teams in its history. The nation competed as part of the Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer and Winter Games, while after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992. The nation competed for the first time as Russia at the 1994 Winter Paralympics.
Doping bans On 7 August 2016, the Russian Paralympic Committee was banned from participating in the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Paralympics due to the doping scandal in Russia, although in 2018 they were allowed to compete as the Neutral Paralympic Athletes. The decision to ban the entire Russian team contrasts the treatment of the Russian Olympic team during the 2016 Summer Olympics, whose members could compete if they were allowed by their sport's respective governing body.
On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for four years, after it was found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities with a goal of protecting athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme. Russian athletes would be allowed to participate in the Paralympic under a neutral flag and with a neutral designation.
Russia later appealed against the WADA decision in the CAS. On 17 December 2020, the CAS announced its decision, reducing the suspension to two years and allowing Russian athletes to participate under the flag of the Russian Paralympic Committee, rather than under a neutral flag, and use the Russian national colours. For all victory ceremonies, Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 will be used in lieu of the Russian national anthem.
Impact of the Russo-Ukrainian War After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) condemned Russia's "breach of the Olympic Truce adopted by the UN General Assembly". Following this, the International Paralympic Committee initially announced that the RPC team designation would be banned and that Russian athletes could only compete at the 2022 Winter Paralympics under a fully neutral designation as in 2018. After boycott threats from other nations, the IPC on 3 March 2022 banned Russian athletes from competing entirely. On 16 November 2022, the IPC again suspended the RPC at an extraordinary meeting of the IPC General Assembly.
On 29 September 2023, the IPC decided to continue to partially suspend both the Russian and Belarusian NPCs for two years. Their athletes and their support personnel may participate at the Paralympic Games under individual and neutral capacities. In September 2025, the IPC voted to lift the bans on the Russian and Belarusian National Paralympic Committees, with the countries returning to the Games in 2026.
Medal tables
Medals by Summer Games EventGoldSilverBronzeTotalRank1960–1984 did not compete Seoul 1988 Part of the Barcelona 1992 Part of the Atlanta 1996 9 7 11 27 16 Sydney 2000 12 11 12 35 14 Athens 2004 16 8 17 41 11 Beijing 2008 18 23 22 63 8 London 2012 36 38 28 102 2 Rio de Janeiro 2016 Disqualified Tokyo 2020 As the Paris 2024 As the Los Angeles 2028 Future event Brisbane 2032 Future event Total 91 87 90 268 22
Medals by Winter Games GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotalRank1976–1984 did not compete 1988 Innsbruck Part of the 1992 Tignes-Albertville Part of the 1994 Lillehammer 10 12 8 30 5 1998 Nagano 12 10 9 31 5 2002 Salt Lake City 7 9 5 21 5 2006 Turin 13 13 7 33 1 2010 Vancouver 12 16 10 38 2 2014 Sochi 30 28 22 80 1 Pyeongchang 2018 As the Beijing 2022 Disqualified Milan Cortina 2026 8 1 3 12 3 Total 92 89 64 245 5
See also Russian Paralympic Committee Russia at the Olympics Neutral Paralympic Athletes at the 2024 Summer Paralympics
References