STORMY WATERS
Disabled teen facing swim ban sparks controversy … and that’s not all bad, Paralympics boss says,
First there was Oscar Pistorius, dubbed the Blade Runner, fighting to compete against able-bodied athletes at the London Olympics.
Then came Pistorius’ spat with Brazilian Paralympic sprinter Alan Oliveira over the longer length of his blades.
And now, American swimmer Victoria Arlen, a multiple medallist from London, is being told she can’t compete in the Paralympic world swimming championships in Montreal because her paralysis may not be permanent enough.
While no president of the International Paralympic Committee wants headaches, Sir Philip Craven isn’t exactly upset about these controversies.
That’s because they’re all a sign of progress for a movement that used to be brushed aside as a feel-good event for the disabled.
“We are about sport. We are not about disability,” Craven said in an interview in Toronto, where he was meeting 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games officials.
Whether it’s fighting in hockey, doping in baseball or performance-enhancing full-body swimsuits, elite sport is full of controversy.
That Paralympic sport is being taken seriously enough to have its share of such controversies — and that they are attracting mainstream attention — is a sign of how far the Games have come since their 1948 debut.
The IPC’s goal is to “enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world,” Craven said.
It can only do that if people are paying attention. Increasingly, they seem to be.
No less a figure than New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan has weighed in on the case of 18-year-old Arlen.
Arlen was paralyzed from the waist down after an illness seven years ago. She competed in the 2012 London Paralympics, setting a world record and winning gold in 100-metre freestyle and taking silver medals in three other races.
The last-minute refusal to let Arlen compete in the world championships in Montreal this week is “unconscionable and patently unfair,” Hassan said.
The timing is unfortunate, agrees Craven. But the late notice of her ineligibility was because she didn’t provide the medical documents the IPC requested a year ago at the London Paralympics until July 24, he said.
“It was not a simple case to look at. We took the shortest possible time to do that with five independent medical experts,” Craven said. All five decided independently that she was ineligible because there wasn’t sufficient proof that her medical impairment was permanent, he said.
Craven has been head of the IPC since 2001 but his sports history goes back much farther than that. He competed in wheelchair basketball in the five Games from 1972 to 1988.
Over the last decade or so, the movement has moved from “disability with a big ‘D’ sports to an international sports movement,” he said.
The 2012 London Paralympics, in particular, are credited with proving that parasport, if done well, is popular with audiences.
The London Paralympics attracted almost 2.8 million spectators and a worldwide television audience of 3.8 billion, according to the IPC.
“The greatest performance in London was by a Canadian, Patrick Anderson, who really (led) the Canadian men’s wheelchair basketball team to victory over Australia for the gold medal. That performance was as great, if not greater, than any by Michael Jordan for the Chicago Bulls,” he said.
“I don’t think it was live on Canadian TV. What a tragedy that was.”
Craven’s Wednesday visit to Toronto was to make sure the 2015 Parapan Am Games follow in London’s footsteps with television coverage and a high profile.
“Last year, London staged the best Paralympic Games ever,” Craven said.
“We want Rio to be even better and to do that we need to increase the profile of Paralympics sport on this continent, not just in 2016 but in the years before.”
Every sport in the 2015 Parapan Am Games will be a qualifier for the 2016 Rio Summer Games to help attract all the best athletes.
That would include Brazil’s Oliveira. The 20-year-old double leg amputee is already shaping up to be one of Rio’s biggest stars.
His 200-metre time —20.66 seconds — is faster than that of any able-bodied Brazilian this year. With files from Star wire services
“We are about sport. We are not about disability.” PHILIP CRAVEN PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE