Over the past few weeks, news of para swimming athlete reclassifications have been flowing in.
That, however, was expected. In late 2017, World Para Swimming announced that it would implement a new classification process, effective January 1, 2018 – all athletes are required to undergo a new classification test in 2018 (with the exception of a few special cases, which can be found here).
What is newsworthy here is that the new process appears already to be failing, as well as highlighting the incorrect classifications of prominent para swimmers that World Para Swimming and the International Paralympic Committee have defended for years.
Para swimmers are classified into various categories to even the playing field within each race. Each swimmer is classified as having either a physical, visual, or intellectual impairment, and undergoes physical, technical in-sport, and technical in-competition assessments to reach a proper classification. Para swimming has been marred in recent years by cases of intentional misrepresentation (IM). This is when an athlete intentionally makes their impairment seem more severe in order to be put into the wrong disability class.
This issue has gone largely unaddressed by top officials.
Thus, as we get word of a number of reclassifications, (to state the obvious) the implication is that many classifications were indeed wrong before 2018. This is not to say that this new system is a total fix; while some new classifications have held so far, a few athletes have been reclassified and then switched back to their old classification within days.
Seeking answers to what is naturally driving questions from our staff and readers alike, SwimSwam reached out to USOC Paralympic Communications Press Officer Olivia Truby, who said, “The classification process for athletes is a confidential process.” Additionally, US para swimmers have reportedly been instructed not to communicate with media.
Another wrench in the books, is that with virtually every para-swimmer in the world being kicked back to the review process, many World Record-clearing swims aren’t being ratified. This was highlighted today when newly-reclassed British Swimmer Alice Thai broke the World Record in the S8 100 free. Her mother, on Twitter, questioned it, saying that Lakeisha Patterson was faster at the Commonwealth Games. But, because Patterson’s class wasn’t confirmed within the allowable time period (which appears to be 6 weeks), that record won’t show up on the books.
Records can only be ratified when athletes have been confirmed with the right sport class status. More info available at https://t.co/w5crPmuuSB!
— World Para Swimming (@Para_swimming) May 31, 2018
It seems that this will again be a problem with Daniel Dias’ 50 free World Record-time that was clocked on Friday in Sheffield. It doesn’t appear as though he’s yet had his classification review, and he’s not on the schedule for the upcoming para-meet in Berlin, and it’s not clear where else he could be classified in the next 6 weeks.
Given how little transparency the sport is allowing and what little information we have, here’s the major news we can confirm so far (the WPS master list is yet to be updated, but results from the 2018 British Para Swimming International meet confirm a handful of swimmers):
- American record holder Robert Griswold was classed up from S8 to S9, then almost immediately classed back down to S8.
- Olympic gold medalist Michelle Konkoly, of the US, was classed up from S9 to S10.
- The US’ Julia Gaffney was classed down from S8 to S7.
- Ukrainian Denys Dubrov, who in 2016 went from world-class able-bodied swimmer to para world record holder with little explanation, will maintain his status as an S10.
- British swimmer Alice Tai has been classed down from S9 to S8.
- British swimmer Tully Kearney has been classed down from S7 to S5.
- British swimmer Grace Harvey was classed from from S7 to S6.
- British swimmer Ollie Hynd was classed up from S8 to S9, penning a note saying he was “heartbroken and confused.”
- British 2016 Paralympic medalist Stephanie Millward, who was classed down from S9 to S8 shortly before Rio, has again moved back to S9.
Alice Thai went from an S10 to an S8. Would like to know how this happened. Is there going to be cheating at Japan like there was in Rio . I saw some of the cheating when I was in Scotland. Why are swimmers being told when they are being classified. They swim slowly during the classification. and then in the evening they swim 2 or three seconds faster.Cheating.
considering that most of the British swimmers listed here have been put in a lower classification which benefits them,I would assume that Great Britain is getting ready for Japan.
Ladies and gentlemen, firstly the IPC needs to put a time limit in place on classifications. For example, when an athlete first becomes internationally classified, the classification being issued to that athlete should be in place for a minimum 4-year time period. The only exception to this rule is this, should the athlete’s health suddenly deteriorate, to where the athletes swimming times dramatically increase making them noncompetitive in that class which is during the athletes 4-year period. Then the athlete should be able to appeal to IPC for a “special consideration classification reassessment”. However, should the athlete suddenly start swimming faster times, before their alleged deteriorated health and slower swimming times, then that athlete should be reinstated ASAP back to… Read more »
Ollie Hynds gets barristers to launch appeal against Classification claiming it was flawed
Look at his fb page
Dummy out of pram
Cheating now gets legal support lol
I am an athlete from Estonia and I just participated in both the Sheffield and Berlin meets. After 6 years of swimming in S5, I was reclassified and put into S4. Before this year, I had been classified in 2013 and reviewed in 2015, both times I was firmly put into S5, where honestly it felt like everyone else simply had more limbs than me. In 2015, I even brought X-rays of my shoulders and my weak leg but the people in charge of the classifying process simply said that the x-rays are in the system and they don’t need them during the process itself.
Personally, the whole affair felt a lot more professional this time around. The measuring,… Read more »
Battle CAS,
IPC swimming ignored human rights and clearly many functional disabilities. We need CAS cases ending to chaos.
Athletes with clear disabilty do must appeal to CAS. Expensive but only this helping repair this system. My country athlete B.Tilk loses paralympic class(short strature and joint disabilty)
It’s always shocking to see that Robert Griswold is involved in another article about intentional misrepresentation…..
Goes from a S9 to a S8 a day later…. not fishy at all…
Everything about the new classification system is fishy. Several athletes had the exact same thing happen to them in the last few weeks. At this point, I’m not sure anybody can really define who’s in the right class, who’s too low, and who’s too high. It’s quite possible that the classes don’t mean the same thing that we all used to think they meant.
I think you nailed it.
Well stated and so very true Braden.