Courtesy: OnEdition
European Record holder and 4-time World Champion Tully Kearney has been reclassified to the S7/SB6/SM7 classes. Kearney underwent a classification review at the recent Para-Swimming World Series meet in Sheffield.
Her exceptions are now listed as A, 6, 12+. The definition of those codes:
- A – Assistance Required during start
- 6 – Simultaneous Intent to Touch in breaststroke and butterfly
- 12+ – Leg Drag of Show Intent to Kick in breaststroke (Dolphin Kick is Able to Be Performed)
The 20-year old Kearney has won 8 World Championship mmedals in her career, including 4 at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow. There, she won the 100 fly (S9), 400 free (S9), and 200 IM (SM9), and as a member of Britain’s 34 point 400 medley relay.
She also won a silver medal in the S9 100 backstroke and a bronze on Britain’s 34-point 400 free relay.
She was born with cerebral palsy and generalised dystonia that affects her lower limbs and left hand side of her body, according to a 2014 article in The Boldmere Swim Club Swimming Times newsletter.
Kearney withdrew from last summer’s Paralympic Games in Rio while battling a shoulder injury. She was granted medical dispensation to swim on the team in Rio, in spite of not qualifying, but wound up having to withdraw.
in spite of her injury and missing the Paralympics, Kearney ranked 4th in 2016 in the 400 free among S9s (4:47.55) and 10th in the 100 fly (1:11.28). By comparison, the fastest times in the world in 2016 in the S7 class for those events were 5:05.77 and 1:18.65, respectively. Her 2016 best times both would easily be World Records in the S7 category.
Other British National Teamers reclassed include Megan Richter, who was moved from the S9 class to the S8 class; and Paralympic gold and bronze medalist Alice Tai, who was moved from the S10 class to the S9 class.
Looks as though the IPC classification system continues to fail in providing a fair playing field. How do the classifiers justify a s9 gold medalist swimmer dropping two classifications. Kearney will smash the s7 record book. The classification system is a complete joke now.
I’m shocked at what I’ve read about Tully Kearney ! This young lady has been through hell trying to work with a health condition that makes her body Deteriorate. Generalised Dystonia is a condition that can wreaks your whole body over time. It is extreme painful, and very debilitating for Tully. Shame on people for judging this girl by your own standards !! Tully is honest, hardworking girl, who loves to swim. She gets no support from British Para Swimming, and is moving on with her swimming career by herself, Through hard work and determination. I wish Tully every success with her swimming and life in general.
Funny enough the IPC find her classification worrying as well along with Megan Richters I wonder why that is ??
Had a very good meeting with the head of staff and chief classification director in Bonn last week.
So I think I am a bit better informed than some
Cheating in Para swimming is getting beyond a joke now and the IPC have said that any person that comes forward with evidence of IM/cheating will be afforded as much support as required to protect them from any reprisals from their NGB.
Having seen a copy of a letter from the Australian NGB making such threats to a swimmer it was nothing short of bullying at its… Read more »
If the IPC find these classifications “worrying” why allow them to stand?
Surely that warrants review.
For goodness sake, just employ a neurologist and put an end to this ridiculous rubbish.
Looking at the latest GB swimmers to retire
S Rodgers S7
C Henshaw SB6
Both a credit to British swimming I can only look at the new classifications and think GBs master plan is as follows
Steph millward S8 to combat the Aussie S8
Megan Richter S8 to combat the Aussie S8 as Steph has lost her funding
Alice Tia ( who is a honest swimmer in my eyes ) S9 to replace Megan Richter
Tully Kearny S7/ SB 6 to replace both Rodgers and Henshaw.
If this is the case then what a sad state of affairs in Para swimming
Just because you think Tai is ‘nice’ does not make her an honest gal. She herself told other athletes that she was angling for a reclass prior to Rio but the NGB couldn’t get the medical evidence needed to warrant this at the time. She also told other athletes that she was going to break the WR after her reclass but BEFORE her race!!! She doesn’t show ANY deterioration in her condition at all so are we to assume that her classification has been incorrect all this time?!?! What a joke 🙁
I think the biggest joke is on Tully Kearney. TAA is correct, I made an error the S7 point scale is 191 – 215. There is absolutely no way that Kearneys physical appearance combined with her exceptions to the FINA swimming rules paints the picture of a S7 swimmer. Just look at her, a trained monkey would shout foul on this one. Anyone can swim incredibly slowly and fake it during bench & water testing, it doesn’t appear to be that hard. What is very odd is that Kearney and her rapidly deteriorating impairment had a confirmed S9 classification prior to her S7.
ThecAussies have another long standing extremely obvious wrong classification – Matthew Haanappel S6 (hemiplegic of course). At… Read more »
The Classification schedule for Indianapolis is up on the IPC website. Maddison Elliott is not joining her dodgy team mates Leonhardt, Lihou and Patterson. What is very interesting about this is that Maddison Elliott, should she be classed up to S9, does not have any S9 qualifying times for 2017 IPC World Championships. Tiffany Thomas Kane is also missing from the list.
Rio times count so of course she has qualifying times even as a 9. They can go to the Berlin Open if they want to be classed prior to Mexico City
She had to qualify for the Australian Team at Australian National Championships and she did as she usually does on the domestic scene and swam very very badly. A quick check of her times and the Aussie qualifying times for Worlds demonstrate that she has qualified for the Aussie team for World Champs as an S8 – but not as an S9. It’s a mystery why she and Thomas- Kane are not going to Indianapolis but the rest of them are.
It will be interesting to see her swim at a major competition like World Champs.
Will her legs suddenly miraculously work like Lakeisha Patterson’s “dead leg” that seems to be able to function quite normally when she needs to go fast? With that classification and the diagnosis of generalised dystonia which has deteriorated very rapidly she should be showing clear signs of abnormal movement patterns.
Another one to watch out for is Australia’s Abigail Lihou of the lane rope pulling fame – another dead leg in the water but she can walk and jump on it. The lane rope pulling footage shows she has complete control of the leg she cannot move in the water – it would… Read more »
Kearney competed as S10 in 2013. The point score for S10 is 266-285.
Then as a S9 and multiple World Champion in 2015. The point score for S9 is 241-265.
Then as an S7 she swam 100 free, was dq’d in 100 breast and then went home. The point score for S7 is 166-190. So the good old IPC expect us to believe a whopping (maximum) point deficit of 95 points since her S10 classification in 2013? I don’t think so, particularly given the quality of her swims during 2015 and 2016.
In addition Kearney has exceptions to the FINA rules 12+. A ‘+’ neans that she has scored more than 3 points (out of a possible… Read more »
The point score for S7 is 191-215. I do think it is difficult to get down under that 215 mark if you have two working limbs which in theory gives you 150pts or 50% of your body is fully functioning and then to get to a score of 215 you would have to score under 65 out of 150 which is 43% of function which is about 2/5 on all the tests. if you average 2/5 on two of your limbs you are in pretty rough shape physically
I said this before but I do think its really hard to fake being a 7 because you should really have a noticeable and real physical hindrance. To me I don’t think… Read more »
Remember Patterson managed to get herself to a 7 before there was some sort of protest.
One thing about the hemiplegia diagnosis is that the IPC should be able to measure the muscle sizes of the biceps, thigh and calf muscles on both sides of the body and see a significant size difference. As a swimmer matures and gains muscle it will all be on one side of the body and actually makes the condition appear much worse. I wonder if they have done any study/research on this cause I know on my swimmer it is really noticeable after she gained about 15lbs of muscle since full time swimming a couple years ago.
The IPC just reproduce the same research over and over year after year. They say they have the available technology in Queensland Australia to detect the cheaters, but can’t use it for years to come.
A DEXA scan should form part of the hemis documentation. It measures bone density but also reports on muscle mass. And of course, they could just ‘look’ it’s pretty obvious but I’m sure they aren’t even aware that this occurs. Again, look at wheelchair bound Kearneys legs, ‘hemis’ Patterson, Leonnhardt & Elliott and GBS wasted leg Lihou. There is no ‘medical’ evidence to support them, none.
Don’t Mckenzie Coan (US), Jonathan Fox and Michael Jones (GB) all fall into this category as all have 4 limbs which work to some extent and are all S7?
Mckenzie Coan was classified down from S8 to S7 due to her short stature, on a class -1 basis.
Section 8.4 of the IPC Swimming Classification Rules and Regulations: “All other cases of short stature (e.g. Osteogenis Imperfecta, Growth Hormone Dysfunction) are assessed under Section 4 and/or 6 of these Rules, and a ‘class -1’ principle applies (e.g. measurements under section 4 and/or section 6 would lead to class 8, and the Athlete is no taller than 137 cm (female) or 145cm (male), the final Sport Class will be 7).”