Russian Paralympic team likely to have record representation at 2016 Summer Games

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Recent results showed by Russian Paralympians at European and World summer sports competitions give grounds to say that the Russian national team will have a record representation at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Brazil, Pavel Rozhkov, the first vice president of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC), told TASS on Wednesday. "The majority of quotas for the participation in Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro will be at stake during this year’s international competitions," Rozhkov said in an interview with TASS. "Given the successful results achieved at the World and European championships we may hope that the country will receive some 185 Paralympic quotas and as a result about 230 Russian Paralympians will take part in the Games." "This number will be much higher comparing with the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, where we had 170 athletes participating," Rozhkov said adding that that the national Paralympic team was preparing for the next year’s Games in Brazil in line with the schedule. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London the Russian national team finished second in the overall medals standings (36 gold, 38 silver and 28 bronze medals) after China (95-71-65) and ahead of hosts Great Britain (34-43-43). The Paralympic movement in Russia received a significant boost last year after the country hosted for the first time in its history Winter Paralympic Games in the southern resort city of Sochi. Russia hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1980, when it was the Soviet Union, and then Soviet leadership declined to hold the Paralympic Games at that time saying that there were no people with impairment in their country. Russia’s national team finished the country’s ever first Paralympic Games, held in Sochi last year between March 7 and 16, in the first place of the medals standings, packing a total of 80 medals (30 gold, 28 silver and 22 bronze). President of the Russian Paralympic Committee Vladimir Lukin said after the Games that "the stage of the Paralympics heritage had just begun," adding that Russia needed to continue creating barrier-free environment across the country. Read more