Breen to name Paralympic ‘cheats’ to MPS today
Lawyer claims athletes exaggerate disability British coaches accused of being complicit
The father of long jump world champion Olivia Breen will “name names” when he appears before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee hearing today on claims the Paralympic classification system is being manipulated.
A sports lawyer, Michael Breen represents a group of athletes and their parents who believe some competitors are exaggerating their disabilities to gain an advantage, and that British coaches and officials have been complicit.
Also appearing before the panel will be Baroness Grey-thompson and British Paralympic Association chief executive Tim Hollingsworth, while Peter Eriksson, the former head coach of the British para-athletics team, is giving evidence via video-link from Canada.
Having been treated with what he describes as “contempt and disdain” by the sporting authorities, Breen intends to make use of parliamentary privilege – in this case, protection from defamation action – to tell MPS about the system’s conflicts of interest and individual cases. Speaking to Press Association Sport, Breen said: “I’m going to name names, otherwise it’s a waste of time – the system is not fit for purpose and the way it is treating some athletes is disgusting.”
One of the athletes Breen represents is Bethany Woodward, who recently quit para-athletics saying she had lost faith in the selection process. Woodward, a silver medallist in the T37 200 metres at London 2012, also handed back a relay medal, telling UK Athletics one of her team-mates gave them “an unfair advantage”.
This case, and several others, is understood to be based on the fact that athletes with cerebral palsy – a neurological condition that causes permanent problems with co-ordination and muscle tone – are placed in the same classes as athletes with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, which has similar symptoms but can fluctuate in severity.
In response to Breen’s complaints, which first surfaced in the build-up to last year’s Rio Paralympics, UK Athletics held a review of its procedures.
It admitted the classification system “could be abused” but found no evidence to suggest it was and made a number of recommendations to improve the process, including the use of more medical expertise, more independent scrutiny and clearer communication.
Breen, however, said the review “was not a genuine attempt to uncover the truth” and its outcome was “predetermined”.
He believes the entire process is riddled with conflicts of interest and a lack of expertise, as most classification panels are made up of coaches and physiotherapists, as opposed to “world-leading experts”.
While sympathetic to some of Breen’s points, it is understood the BPA and UKA reject any suggestions of cheating and point out the T31-38 classes he refers to have never been exclusively for cerebral palsy athletes but for any athlete with impaired co-ordination.