British hero Bates could quit aged 26 after row over ‘joke’ Paralympics rule
One of Britain’s greatest ever wheelchair basketball players is facing retirement from the sport on the eve of the Paralympics, at the age of only 26, after he was ruled ineligible for the Tokyo Games.
George Bates, who top-scored in the final of Britain’s historic 2018 World Championship triumph and was part of the European Championship-winning team the following year, is registered disabled and has suffered from complex regional pain syndrome since the age of 11.
He has been told, however, that his condition does not meet the latest “impairment criteria” and the International Paralympic Committee has now also refused a “transitional period” until after the Tokyo Games, despite granting wheelchair tennis players until 2022 to meet the rules.
Bates, who has devoted his entire adult life to winning a Paralympic gold medal, believes the welfare of wheelchair basketball players has been disregarded and they have become “pawns” in an administrative power play between the IPC and the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation.
“I can’t see a reason to not allow one sport to have a transitional period and to allow another,” Bates said. “Every athlete I have spoken to in the sport thinks it is a joke. That includes our rivals. They all want me to compete in Tokyo. I just think it is the IPC showing the IWBF who the boss is. It shows a total disregard for athlete well-being. It doesn’t seem fair.”
Bates had the option to have his left leg amputated as a child. He has been unable to walk unaided for the past 16 years, has suffered muscle wastage and lives in constant pain, but the IPC has decided the condition does not meet its list of impairments, even though it is recognised by the IWBF, which had sought to
extend the transitional period for those athletes affected – as in wheelchair tennis. That has now been denied despite calls from across the wheelchair basketball community for leniency.
Bates has one last chance with an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but that is over the IPC’S impairment criteria rather than the transitional period. He has said that he would consider having his leg amputated to realise his Paralympic dream. He has been playing professionally in Italy and Spain over the past seven years to give himself the best chance of helping Great Britain win a gold medal at the Paralympics.
“I’ve been a pawn for organisations for the last 16 months,” Bates said. “The politics has worn me down. My stress levels have been through the roof. It has taken a toll on me mentally.”
Bates is still holding out some hope that an appeal could be successful, but he is already also giving thought to what might come next. “This is potentially my last two months playing professionally and I now want to enjoy it, rather than just waiting and hoping,” he said.
Bates’s partner is due to give birth to their first child in June and, if the appeals are unsuccessful, he will consider coaching opportunities and has already begun financial training for a company that employs former athletes.
An amputation process would take at least four years and could worsen his condition. The other complicating factor is that the IPC is expected to again review its impairment criteria, and potentially include people with CRPS, after the Paris Games in 2024.
The IWBF said that the IPC’S initial ruling was “based on administrative inaccuracies and misjudgment of the appropriate procedures” and that it was committed to full compliance by Aug 31, 2021.
A spokesperson for the IPC has said it is “sympathetic” to Bates’s situation, but that the athlete classification code “clearly states that CRPS is a health condition that does not lead to an eligible impairment” for Paralympic participation.
The IPC highlighted how the IWBF’S request was made only six months before the Tokyo Games and expressed “profound frustration at the late timing”. Of the 14 national organisations for wheelchair basketball, the IPC said that eight had supported a transitional period, three had opposed the idea and three had not expressed an opinion. The IPC said that the International Tennis Federation’s request had been made in March 2019 and “considered on its own merits”.