(CNN)If you're watching the Paralympic Games, you whitethorn announcement an unfamiliar abbreviation, RPC.
It stands for the Russian Paralympic Committee, and it's a mode of allowing Russian athletes to vie successful the Paralympics portion their state is banned from the Games due to the fact that of 1 of the biggest doping scandals successful athletics history.
"All nationalist displays of the organization's subordinate sanction should usage the acronym, not the afloat sanction "Russian Paralympic Committee,"
There are immoderate circumstantial rules the RPC has to travel to marque wide it is not representing the state of Russia.
But first, a reminder connected however Russia got present successful the archetypal place:
Inside the Russian doping ban
In 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from each planetary sporting competitions, including the Paralympics, for 4 years implicit doping non-compliance.
The punishment was related to inconsistencies successful information retrieved by WADA successful January 2019 from the Moscow laboratory astatine the halfway of a 2016 study that uncovered a wide and blase state-sponsored sports doping network.
WADA's compliance reappraisal committee suggested sanctions due to the fact that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency failed to afloat cooperate during probes into the country's sports.
Last year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) chopped Russia's prohibition successful fractional to two years pursuing an appeal.
The prohibition present ends December 16, 2022. Until then, Russian athletes are not capable to vie nether their country's name, emblem and nationalist anthem astatine the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics rescheduled to this summer.
"On 17 December 2020, CAS recovered the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to beryllium non-compliant successful narration to its nonaccomplishment to procure that the authentic LIMS information and underlying analytical information of the erstwhile Moscow Laboratory was received by WADA," said the IPC successful a statement.
"This substance was discussed by the IPC Governing Board, and the Board resolved to recognise and springiness effect to the CAS determination and besides to follow revised post-reinstatement criteria for the RPC."
Competing arsenic neutral athletes
Under the ban, Russian athletes tin inactive vie arsenic neutral athletes -- which means they bash not technically correspond a circumstantial state -- if they tin beryllium they had nary nexus to the doping scandal.
There volition beryllium 242 RPC athletes at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Instead of Russia's flag, the team's emblem will combine 3 flames with its colors white. bluish and reddish and the Paralympic symbol, Agitos.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1" volition beryllium played alternatively of the Russian nationalist anthem if a RPC Paralympian wins gold.
According to Russian quality bureau TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the imposition of the CAS prohibition connected the usage of the Russian emblem and anthem "was evidently politically motivated."
"RPC athletes and squad officials volition deterioration neutral uniforms that person been approved by the IPC," said the IPC successful a statement.
"The uniforms volition not diagnostic the Russian emblem oregon Russian Federation emblem oregon symbols. Instead, the RPC emblem volition beryllium utilized wherever required.
"The words "Russia" and "Russian" shall not appear. For sporting instrumentality that requires the usage of the country's acronym, the RPC volition beryllium utilized alternatively of RUS."
Russia wasn't allowed to vie astatine the Paralympic Games successful Rio implicit the doping scandal, but the IPC conditionally reinstated the RPC/s rank successful March 2019.
CNN's Ben Church, Ben Morse, Martijn Edelman, George Ramsay and Zachary B. Wolf contributed to this report.
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