Paralympic athletes exaggerating their disability for unfair advantages.

Thunder Bolt · Oct 3, 2017

I have admired the paralympic athletes for their grit and determination in succeeding in competitions, but this article brought me right back to earth.

Some athletes have been 'cheating' by exaggerating their disabilities to get into a different class, and unfair advantage.

A File on 4 special - Paralympic Sport - Fair Play?- spoke to athletes, parents, coaches and classifiers, and uncovered claims of tactics including the taping up of arms, taking cold showers in trunks and even surgery to shorten limbs in a bid to cheat the system.

British T37 200m sprinter Bethany Woodward has handed back a relay medal she won from an event in the past four years, telling File on 4 the inclusion of one of her team-mates was "giving us an unfair advantage".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/41253174

Rod Marsh · Oct 3, 2017

Are you surprised? PED are no doubt being used as well. These are incredibly competitive people that have to win. They like anyone else will do whatever it takes to win.

dazzer6666 · Oct 3, 2017

Been going on for ages. Incredibly difficult to police effectively though, particularly with less visible disabilities. Tricky one to voice any criticism over given the number of genuinely inspirational examples there are.

hans kraay fan club · Oct 3, 2017

dazzer6666 said:
Been going on for ages. Incredibly difficult to police effectively though, particularly with less visible disabilities. Tricky one to voice any criticism over given the number of genuinely inspirational examples there are.

This.

I've never had any interest at all in competitive disability sports that have arbitrary classifications. A race between one athlete in a wheelchair and another - okay, we can all see that is equitable. Something like Goalball, for visually impaired athletes (where they make all players wear a complete black-out mask to totally level the playing field) yep, get that.

Something like the cerebral palsy events, where there are infinite degrees of the condition, seem utterly inequitable. You can't have infinite different categories, so it just becomes a game of 'who is the least disabled, within two vague grades of the condition?'.

And that's even BEFORE you get into people cheating the system to sneak into higher grades, to improve their chances.

:shrug:

Triggaaar · Oct 3, 2017

Thunder Bolt said:
Some athletes have been 'cheating' by exaggerating their disabilities to get into a different class, and unfair advantage.

Well obviously. There are rewards for those who succeed, of course people will try and gain unfair advantage. It's also particularly difficult for the athletes who find themselves on the wrong side of the cusp between categories, so they have no real chance of winning against those in the class with less of a disability, so they may want to try and move into another class where suddenly they're the one with an advantage.

It's impossible to get it all right to be honest, but it's still worthwhile.

Triggaaar · Oct 3, 2017

hans kraay fan club said:
Something like the cerebral palsy events, where there are infinite degrees of the condition, seem utterly inequitable. You can't have infinite different categories, so it just becomes a game of 'who is the least disabled, within two vague grades of the condition?'.

And that's even BEFORE you get into people cheating the system to sneak into higher grades, to improve their chances.

So what do you suggest?

hans kraay fan club · Oct 3, 2017

Triggaaar said:
So what do you suggest?

I don't suggest anything, really.

Many of the people involved are clearly massively inspirational. What they drive themselves to do is amazing.

I'm just not convinced that a system that offers monetary and other rewards for out-performing other competitors afflicted by a higher degree of disability has any worth.

Everyone should be given a chance to play sports. I don't personally think that having a disability affords you any MORE than that - the 'right' for monetary reward / huge expensive events with all the razzamatazz. I don't think the disabled sport INDUSTRY has things quite right, frankly.

Ernest · Oct 3, 2017

hans kraay fan club said:
I don't suggest anything, really.

Many of the people involved are clearly massively inspirational. What they drive themselves to do is amazing.

I'm just not convinced that a system that offers monetary and other rewards for out-performing other competitors afflicted by a higher degree of disability has any worth.

Everyone should be given a chance to play sports. I don't personally think that having a disability affords you any MORE than that - the 'right' for monetary reward / huge expensive events with all the razzamatazz. I don't think the disabled sport INDUSTRY has things quite right, frankly.

Quite right, it has now gone far away from sports to big money

Thunder Bolt · Oct 3, 2017

Rod Marsh said:
Are you surprised? PED are no doubt being used as well. These are incredibly competitive people that have to win. They like anyone else will do whatever it takes to win.

I think the one that really surprised me was amputees having further amputation just to get an advantage. It just didn't make sense to me. Surely no amount of money or prestige makes up for that.

Easy 10 · Oct 3, 2017

I was watching the swimming in the Invictus Games the other night. A couple of them only had 1 arm, so (predictably) came in a mile behind.

Its all very worthwhile in terms of the bravery and spirit on show. But it doesn't come down to fitness or talent, the overriding factor is how severely disabled each individual is in each field. Like I say, you can only admire them for their determination to compete, and I'm sure they all get a hell of a lot out of it, which I guess is the most important thing here. But as a sporting competition, its unavoidably flawed.

Triggaaar · Oct 3, 2017

hans kraay fan club said:
I'm just not convinced that a system that offers monetary and other rewards for out-performing other competitors afflicted by a higher degree of disability has any worth.

The value (worth) is that...

Many of the people involved are clearly massively inspirational.

Obviously it's not perfect, and never will be, due to the points already raised, but so what if a few disabled people profit from it, if at the same time many thousands of disabled people can take inspiration from the athletes.

Beach Hut · Oct 3, 2017

Wasn't a Spanish Basketball team at the Paralympics not so visually impaired as they had claimed to be

Rod Marsh · Oct 3, 2017

Thunder Bolt said:
I think the one that really surprised me was amputees having further amputation just to get an advantage. It just didn't make sense to me. Surely no amount of money or prestige makes up for that.

One day there will be an able bodied person that has am amputation so they can compete.......

hans kraay fan club · Oct 3, 2017

Beach Hut said:
Wasn't a Spanish Basketball team at the Paralympics not so visually impaired as they had claimed to be

It was Special Olympics rather than Para, and the team had supposed learning difficulties.

Biscuit · Oct 3, 2017

There is no doubt that the Paralympics is a fascinating sporting festival - but for me its central purpose is a matter of debate. Does the Paralympics exist to display the wide range of disability sports or is it a spectacle of elite sport? Because if it's the latter, the sort of cheating the system that this article raises calls that into question. Indeed, while it may be possible to admire the tremendous obstacles those who take part have overcome, elite sport surely it cannot be? Does that make it any less inspirational? No of course not. Does it make it any less enjoying to watch? Nope. Does it make it an elite sporting spectacle? I think that's up for debate,

hans kraay fan club · Oct 3, 2017

Triggaaar said:
The value (worth) is that...
Obviously it's not perfect, and never will be, due to the points already raised, but so what if a few disabled people profit from it, if at the same time many thousands of disabled people can take inspiration from the athletes.

It costs a fortune to stage the big events. Money that could be better spent IMO improving access to sporting facilities for non-elite disabled (and other) people around the world.

Triggaaar · Oct 3, 2017

Biscuit said:
There is no doubt that the Paralympics is a fascinating sporting festival - but for me its central purpose is a matter of debate. Does the Paralympics exist to display the wide range of disability sports or is it a spectacle of elite sport?

Well certainly not the latter. Off the top of my head, the main benefits I can think of are (in no particular order):
Giving disabled athletes the chance to compete in sport.
Giving hope and pride to the disabled spectators.
Encouraging disabled spectators to take part in sport, which is healthy for them mentally and physically.
Broadening the minds of the wider public to help them accept disabled people in our society.

Does it make it an elite sporting spectacle? I think that's up for debate,

It doesn't have to.

Triggaaar · Oct 3, 2017

hans kraay fan club said:
It costs a fortune to stage the big events.

Does it not also bring in money from tv revenue and sponsorship etc?

Money that could be better spent IMO improving access to sporting facilities for non-elite disabled (and other) people around the world.

I disagree, for reasons in post #17

hans kraay fan club · Oct 3, 2017

Triggaaar said:
Does it not also bring in money from tv revenue and sponsorship etc?

No. Far from it.

If the sponsorship deals were not tied together with the Olympics, they wouldn't take place at all.

Did you not follow the near-disaster of the Rio Paralympics when funding almost caused half of the events to be cancelled?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/37090600

http://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/37111934

Last month organisers were forced to scale down venues as a result of a gaping hole in the budget.

The Deodoro Olympic Park, the second-biggest cluster of venues, was partially closed and some events – such as wheelchair fencing – have been relocated to the main Olympic Park in Barra. Parties have been cancelled, big screens taken down and 1,900 temporary staff laid off. The number of seats has also been reduced (originally the organisers hoped to sell 3.4 million).

Triggaaar said:
I disagree, for reasons in post #17

Fair points, granted. All a bit intangible though, in comparison to improving grass roots facilities / participation.

Triggaaar · Oct 3, 2017

hans kraay fan club said:
No. Far from it.

If the sponsorship deals were not tied together with the Olympics, they wouldn't take place at all.

Did you not follow the near-disaster of the Rio Paralympics when funding almost caused half of the events to be cancelled?

I knew of it, but didn't follow it, and assumed it was more due to Brazil's general ineptitude than a lack of support for the Paralympics. So the Olympics have to support the Paralympics - seems fair enough.

Fair points, granted. All a bit intangible though, in comparison to improving grass roots facilities / participation.

But it does improve grass roots participation. And just because it's not easy to count the benefit, that doesn't make the benefit less real.

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Paralympic athletes exaggerating their disability for unfair advantages.

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