KARLSRUHE, Germany (AP) — Germany’s highest court has thrown out a request from five Russian athletes to force the International Paralympic Committee to allow them to compete in the closing ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics.
The Federal Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected their application for an injunction, arguing among other things that such a decision would constitute significant interference with the Bonn-based IPC’s autonomy.
One applicant also sought admission to a swimming competition on Friday, two days before the closing ceremony. The court said it wasn’t clear that she could have arrived in time.
The entire Russian Paralympic team was barred from the games as punishment for state-backed doping in the country. The IPC rejected athletes’ request for “individual admission,” and 94 athletes unsuccessfully petitioned German courts to be allowed to compete.
