• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > Sport

Paralympians 'Cheat' by Exaggerating Disabilities: Expert

  • Oscar Pistorius of South Africa celebrates winning the Men's 400m T44 Final during the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

    Oscar Pistorius of South Africa celebrates winning the Men's 400m T44 Final during the London 2012 Paralympic Games. | Photo: Reuters

Published 3 November 2017
Opinion

Paralympic athletes are cheating by exaggerating their disabilities to boost chances of winning a medal, an IPC expert claims.

A former classification expert for the International Paralympic Committee claims several athletes have devised a system for cheating at the Paralympic Games, according to a report in The Guardian.

RELATED: 
Olympic Committee Suspends Brazil Over Vote-Buying Charges

The expert said they had personally witnessed Paralympian athletes using tactics that could be compared to doping in the mainstream Olympics, including taking Valium, rolling in snow, and taping their limbs before classification assessments.

The methods are used to exaggerate disabilities in order to increase the athletes' chances of winning a medal, said the IPC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being fired.

“I know a country which coaches athletes on what to do before the classification tests so they’ll get into the most advantageous categories and I suspect they’re not the only country to do it,” the IPC source told The Guardian.

The expert explained that such cheating was most prevalent among athletes with neurological conditions, on the grounds that “with amputees, they can’t do anything.”

“If you make them do physical exercise before they test, they’ll be weaker. I’ve seen them put them in hot showers and cold showers. They sometimes roll around in the snow.

“Then you get athletes who have their limbs strapped and bandaged to increase the spasticity. In track and field they’ll do a 5km run and come into classification tired.”

The source went on to claim that one family, from South Asia, had attempted to bribe the committee in order to ensure their son competed against athletes whose disabilities were more severe than his own.

RELATED: 
Paris to Host 2024 Olympic Games and LA the 2028 Games

Last year, British athlete Bethany Woodward handed back her world relay medal, insisting the inclusion of one of her teammates was putting them at an “unfair advantage.” And in 2008, Para-sprinter Ian Jones said he felt “embarrassed” when he was reclassified to race against sprinters with greater disabilities than his own.

“There needs to be more training for classifiers because there have been some terrible mistakes and injustices done to athletes who have been put in the wrong class,” the expert concluded.

In response, the IPC defended its classification system, insisting it is “robust” after the deluge of allegations of intentional misrepresentation, which are casting serious doubt over the integrity of the entire Paralympic sport movement.

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.