Now a 10-time Paralympic medalist, Roy Perkins has always considered himself an “ambassador for the sport.” But he can no longer, in good conscience, advise young disabled people to go into swimming.
At least, not ones who aspire to go as far in the sport internationally as he did, or whose personal feelings of competitive fulfillment stem from participation in fair sport.
“I’ve always wanted to encourage people to get involved, but it’s gotten to a point now where if I meet a young athlete or their parents who were thinking about getting involved, I’ve got to be blunt and say, ‘I would stay away from para swimming, unless you’re really, really passionate about swimming for the sake of swimming, swimming locally,'” Perkins told SwimSwam. “If your participation and your enjoyment of the sport hinges on the fairness at the international level, it’s not there.”
And why is that?
Because the focus of the sport has shifted from training and competition to playing the classification system, according to Perkins. And he says it’s happening in “pretty much” every class, and that this shift began around 2012.
Para-swimming has been publicly marked in recent years by cases of intentional misrepresentation (IM), when an athlete intentionally makes their impairment seem more severe in order to be put into the wrong disability class. World Para Swimming implemented a new classification process in 2018 that has only yielded more chaos.
Perkins, an S5, hasn’t himself been tested since his classification in 2004, so he doesn’t know exactly what the process looks like today. But what he has witnessed first-hand is a change in attitude.
“I couldn’t tell you what changed behind the scenes, but I know that the outcome changed drastically to a point now where you finish a big meet like the Rio Games and everybody’s talking about their future, and that conversation revolves around classification – about who’s going to be put in what classification,” he said. “In some cases even, ‘how can I cheat the classification system?’ And people aren’t focusing on their training, or preparation, or their technique. It’s all about classification, and I think that attitude that people have matches the reality.”
“For me to win a gold medal in Rio, it was a great accomplishment, and my own race was fair. But I think it watered down what it meant for me to go up on the podium, and win when I knew that other people in that same position, a lot of them didn’t earn it.”
The situation has gotten so dire that Perkins, 28, is strongly reconsidering his interest in going to Tokyo (for what would be his fourth Paralympic Games) in two years; unfair races are cheapening the value of his own competing in fair races.
“I saw in Rio – my own competitions were fair. I was swimming against guys that I’ve been swimming against for years. Nobody got moved down who I felt like impacted the fairness of my races,” he said. But elsewhere, in other classifications, I felt like there are illegitimate races. I couldn’t tell you the exact percentage, but it’s a good portion of them… For me to win a gold medal in Rio, it was a great accomplishment, and my own race was fair. But I think it watered down what it meant for me to go up on the podium, and win when I knew that other people in that same position, a lot of them didn’t earn it. And just the whole competition had kind of a shadow cast over it.”
And so, the seemingly unsolvable question remains: how do World Para Swimming and the International Paralympic Committee save their sport? No one has a simple answer.
Trischa Zorn, the most decorated Paralympian of all-time, suggested last year that swimmers be classified outright based on impairment, eliminating the subjective nature of classification. But with that solution would inevitably come a slew of other problems.
“I think they just need consistency, and also need to look at the whole thing with common sense,” Perkins said, agreeing that Zorn’s solution is one reasonable possibility. “If you’re bringing a swimmer down a classification and they’re 15 percent faster than everybody else who’s previously been winning medals, there’s a pretty good chance they’re in the wrong class. I think in general it’d be better to err on the side of keeping a really fast swimmer out of the lower classification. Occasionally, maybe it wouldn’t be fair to that swimmer, but the other side of it is if you’re haphazardly bringing people down a class, they’re going to be dominating, and it ruins the whole competition for everybody else.”
Able-bodied athletes face a similar reality when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, but governing bodies appear, at least publicly, to take those cases more seriously. Perkins wants intentional misrepresentation handled similarly, if not monitored even more intensely: “I think they should approach it with even more gravity than they approach drug testing because it makes an even bigger impact.”
And in general, it’s not just media who are left out of the loop. Athletes, too, want answers.
“So if they can’t get it right, they’ve got to find somebody else who can.”
“They basically say ‘we can’t discuss individual cases,’ which alright, that’s okay, but the results need to be there,” Perkins said. “So really my interest is just for the results can change. They’re pretty secretive about their whole process. So it’s hard to pinpoint what should be changed specifically.”
“But I just know that for them to say ‘it’s a difficult thing to get right’ – it’s a weak excuse. It was a lot better ten years ago. And their entire purpose is to get that right. So if they can’t get it right, they’ve got to find somebody else who can.”
From Perkins’ perspective, the public obsession with classification has also shifted focus away from what para-sport is meant to be about in the first place, and marred the sport of swimming at-large.
“The whole point of it is to get people with a disability involved in elite athletic competition, and for that purpose itself to be perverted – the actual disability aspect of the Paralympics – to become perverted to this level, I think it’s a huge insult to athletes, it’s an insult to the sport of swimming,” he said.
“Kind of the impression I feel like people get, and no offense to SwimSwam, the stuff coming out – it’s from parents who are upset about their own swimmers, or competitors who have a grudge. There was a lot of individual people calling each other out, and even if they have a valid point, I think it just detracts from the real issues.”
While we wait for the powers that be to figure out a classification process that works, Perkins urges his peers, and media, to remember the sport as it was before it became built around deceit.
“It’s really disappointing that it’s reached that point. So I just I think from the media perspective and from the perspective of athletes who maybe have the ear of people in USA Swimming or just the swimming community in general, I think the point that needs to get across more is just that this is hurting athletes, it’s not just about personal grudges and swimmers thinking they’re entitled to whatever position on the podium,” he said. “It’s really a much more basic level than that.”
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 time 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… Read more »
Roy hits it on the nail as usual.
NOTHING will change unless all the athletes stand up and demand these issues be fixed.
As a 4x Paralympian, it’s sad to see what the sport has become.
A little birdy from inside swimming Australia, has just informed me that three NEW cheats and frauds are being rushed, to have their international classification process completed at the upcoming 2019 World Para Swimming World Series Stops, which the first leg of that competition is being in Melbourne from February 15-17 in Australia.
The first cheat and fraud is a former 15-year-old able bodied NSW junior swimmer champion named Ricky Betar. I have been informed that this lad failed to make the able bodied 2018 Australian Junior Dolphin swim squad this year, and subsequently due to both his family and his own disappointment that he missed out on the able-bodied team selection, both he and his family have decided… Read more »
Is there any Facebook groups that names shames these alleged Para-cheats and frauds???
As a former Para-swimmer and someone who retired partly because of this exact thing, I’m disgusted. When I saw Michele Konkoly doing box jumps and squatting heavy weights after “breaking” a world record and getting a gold medal against swimmers who have three limbs and workout with modifications, makes me sick. People like that are diminishing the capabilities of those who are truly disabled and are the exact reason why the Paralympics will never be fair.
The Paralympics are amazing in the eyes of the general public. Sure, Michele’s story is tragic and does she deserve credit for getting through what she did, absolutely. But in NO WAY does she or anyone else who cheats the system deserve to… Read more »
‘Fair play’ means athletes’ competing against each other based on natural ability; however that is certainly NOT the case in Para-swimming. For 2020 Tokyo to have a chance of providing fair play, firstly Para-swimming especially the IPC must take the appropriate responsibility and action to stop those athletes engaging in fraudulently exaggerating their medical conditions and/or by engaging in Intentional Misrepresentation.
Sadly the problems are still occurring due to the lack proper due diligence and good governance, the current inept checks and balances are failing immensely, the relevant authorities are a toothless tiger, failing to conduct proper valid investigations and the required surveillance into those serious complaints and allegations into those athletes who are deliberately exaggerating their medical conditions and… Read more »
Folk’s, apart from being unethical, immoral, and reprehensible behaviour to cheat in Para swimming, it’s also unhinged and inhuman to engage in such dishonourable conduct, and ALL those responsible for bringing the sport into disrepute, need to be brought to account ASAP and if found guilty, they should be ALL publicly named and shamed for histories sake!!!
My swimmer is no longer competing in Para swimming at all. After spending a lifetime training and competing in the sport they’ve thrown in the towel. It’s not just that individual athletes cheat and commit IM, it’s that the NGBs completely support, defend and promote swimmers to keep up the act. Most of the NGBs are corrupt, being led by individual people who wield far too much power to continue as they are, and to never be held accountable to any other authority. They are judge and jury, and no athlete or parent dare not cross the line of complaint. Even if one does file a complaint, nothing will happen. The heart of Para swimming was in the right place… Read more »
Well said Parafan. The IPC and the avaricious, corrupt NGBs have ruined it for everyone except themselves and their chosen few. Like your swimmer, more and more are walking away. It absolutely disgusts me that the para swimming has sunk to these depths.
Parafan, that makes for some very sad reading indeed. All the best to your family. I truly believe that I witnessed very blatant IM at Para Pan Pacs this year – AUS Swimmers, but where and to whom do I go? Apparently no one from the IPC was there because they have no interest in Para Pan Pacs, a statement that I would like to think could not possibly be true. There were there at the Rose Bowl.
IM has obviously reached a, seemingly and needlessly, critical point for the IPC. I think the IPC need to step up first – if they would identify IM as doping violations equal, then that would get them over the line and… Read more »
Kay, which Aus swimmers at Para Pan Pacs are you referring to? Was this comp televised? All I saw was bits on the livestream but the footage wasn’t the greatest. Do you think the system will get reviewed in another 5 years or so?