Para swimmer Tully Kearney has been commended for speaking out over her concerns about the process which led to her being reclassified last year.
The BBC has reported that Kearney, who won S5 100 metres freestyle gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021, has raised a formal complaint over how she felt she was treated during the classification process administered by World Para Swimming (WPS).
Kearney described the process which led to her being reclassified as “inappropriate, insulting and at times humiliating”.
The British Elite Athletes Association (BEAA), the independent representative body for Olympic and Paralympic athletes, praised Kearney for raising her concerns.
“Confidentiality is vital in our work for elite athletes, so while we won’t comment on whether an individual has used our support or not, we commend athletes’ decisions to speak out about their experiences,” a BEAA spokesperson told the PA news agency.
“While we recognise the complexities of the classification process, athlete welfare should remain paramount throughout, as at all times in their careers.
“Our support remains available for all World Class Programme athletes undergoing classification, including for their mental health, and we encourage them to reach out when they need to.”
Kearney, who was born with cerebral palsy and has developed generalised dystonia, had been classified as S5 since 2018 but said the review in 2023 led to her classification being “unexpectedly changed” to S6.
The intention of classification in Paralympic sport is to ensure fair competition, but Kearney’s complaint, as reported by the BBC, said the change to S6 meant she was now required to compete against athletes with a much lower degree of impairment.
“As I have two neurological conditions, one stable and one progressive, it is irrational and unreasonable to reach a conclusion on my classification status that states my disabilities have actually ‘improved’. This is a medical impossibility,” Kearney said.
Kearney also highlighted other examples of the process being “inherently flawed”, claiming the classifiers’ paperwork stated she walked with crutches. Kearney says she has been a wheelchair user since 2016.
The BBC reports that she also made the classification team aware at the time of the review that she was recovering from a concussion, but that they failed to take this into account.
A British Swimming spokesperson said: “British Swimming have provided full support and advice to Tully throughout this process as one of our World Class Programme athletes, and will continue to do so.”
The BBC has reported that Kearney has asked WPS to permit an appeal, even though the two-week window to do so has elapsed.
PA has contacted WPS for comment.
Jamaica set to host inaugural Commonwealth Sports GAPS Camp in the Americas to benefit Para-Athletes and coaches
The Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) and the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Sport, in partnership with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) on Thursday staged the launch of the inaugural GAPS (Gather, Adjust, Prepare, Sustain) Americas & Caribbean Programme to be held in Kingston, Jamaica from April 16 to 22, 2024.
This historic collaboration with the Jamaica Paralympic Association and the University of the West Indies has been realized, thanks to support from the President of the Jamaica Commonwealth Games Association and through the Memorandum of Understanding with the Jamaica Paralympic Association and the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Sport. During this inaugural year the programme will focus on the sport of Para-Athletics.
“This is a very special day for us because usually, multi-organization collaborations take a long time to come to fruition but every time we work with the Jamaica Paralympic Association, things happen very fast,” said Dean of the Faculty of Sport at UWI, Dr. Akshai Mansingh at Thursday’s launch at the University of the West Indies.
“Para-Athletes are, in my view, some of the most talented athletes in the country,” he added.
GAPS is a programme offered by the CGF which aims to advance inclusive sport pathways by offering athletes and coaches additional skills, knowledge and resources that help them to become a catalyst for positive social change and strengthens the Commonwealth Family bond.
“I want to celebrate the fact that we now have the first ever GAPS camp in the Americas and the Caribbean,” remarked Commonwealth Games Federation President, Dr. Chris Jenkins, who was a virtual attendee on Thursday.
This is a fantastic milestone. We’ve been working hard for a couple of years now and it’s finally happening. I’ve been to many GAPS camps and they’ve been truly inspirational,” he added.
One of the main outcomes of the programme is to increase the number of countries participating at the Commonwealth Games.
GAPS aims to address some of the unique challenges faced by para-sport athletes from the Americas & Caribbean region through a partnership programme that educates coaches, identifies talent, undertakes skill development camps, provides international internships and enables research opportunities.
“I applaud the Commonwealth Games Federation and its President, Dr. Chris Jenkins, for their vision in enabling the able with a difference. I also salute the Faculty of Sport at the University of the West Indies for realizing this vision and affording our para-athletes an opportunity to self-actualize,” said Jamaica Paralympic Association President, Christopher Samuda.
The GAPS Americas & Caribbean 2024 acknowledges the fundamental role the coaches play in the development of the athletes. Their development forms the foundational element of the programme.
The programme is designed to build a sustainable pathway for para sport development across the Commonwealth.
The selection of the coach and athlete(s) are central to ensuring that the programme delivers on this goal and equally position the Commonwealth Games Associations to realize the dream of increasing or realizing representation of their athletes at the Commonwealth Games.
For the GAPS Americas & Caribbean 2024 programme, special emphasis at present, will be placed on the sport of Para athletics, with the view to expanding this to more sports in the near future.
Lack of funding for deaf swimmers is ‘completely isolating a whole disability’
One of the UK’s fastest deaf swimmers has spent more than 1,000 days campaigning against “discriminatory” policies that deny him funding.
Nathan Young, a holder of seven national records, is not entitled to any Government or National Lottery money to support his ambitions.
The reason is that UK Sport, the agency which allocates funding on behalf of those entities, is focused solely on Olympic and Paralympic sports.
As deafness on its own is not a discipline in the Paralympics, Wirral-based Young, 24, falls outside its criteria.
He is eligible to compete in the Deaflympics – the multi-sport event for deaf athletes sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee – but Great Britain does not financially back its entrants, unlike some other countries.
The only central funding available for solely deaf athletes is at grassroots level, with nothing for elite competitors such as Young.
That has left him needing to work and fundraise alongside his training to ensure he is able to meet the huge outlay needed to compete on the global stage.
For most of the last three years, he has also spent a large amount of his time running a campaign to get the parameters for funding changed, believing the current rules to be unfair.
“At the end of the day it’s discrimination,” said Young, whose campaign passed the 1,000-day mark in February.
“It’s completely isolating a whole disability. If I was a Paralympic swimmer, I would have been getting paid since I was 16 or 17. It could have been a career that I could have had.
“Right now, I train, I go to the gym but all the other things I should be getting as what you would class as an elite athlete, I don’t get any of it.
“Others have the best treatment available to them to keep them going mentally, physically and in every aspect. I should be getting physio, doing strength and conditioning but I get none of that.
“When I’m training right now, I’m thinking I should be working. It’s not what I should be thinking about.”
Young’s campaigning has involved giving numerous speeches and interviews as well as writing many letters and articles. He has also contacted MPs and, as part of a wider campaign with UK Deaf Sport, has even visited Parliament.
With UK Sport funding for recent Olympic/Paralympic cycles being around £300million, it is a source of frustration for Young that not even a relatively small amount can be found for Deaflympians.
“What we’re asking for is so little,” said Young, who might need to find around £3,000 to fund a trip to next year’s Deaflympics in Tokyo.
“UK Deaf Sport only asked for £4million for us (deaf athletes), which is so little when there’s £300-and-something million for Olympic and Paralympic sport.
“We’re getting the same responses. We keep pushing it and pushing it but it’s been over 1,000 days now and it’s been an exhausting journey.”
A UK Sport statement read: “UK Sport’s remit is specifically focused on investing in sports and athletes who are eligible to compete at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“The Deaflympics falls outside of Olympic and Paralympic sport. We are therefore unable to fund athletes targeting this event.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “This Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including deaf people.
“Sport England has committed £1.2million between 2022 and 2027 to boost deaf sport at the grassroots level through widening participation and supporting the development pathway for talented athletes.”
Jamaica Paralympic Association hosts regional sports training in Boccia and Track & Field
The Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) will be hosting the Regional Sports Training for Boccia, and Track and Field, scheduled for March 13 -15, 2024.
The training, to be conducted under the guidance and expertise of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), is designed to provide technical and skills-training support to top para-athletes and their coaches, technical staff and referees.
Attendees will come from Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, and Barbados Bermuda, Grenada, Guyana Haiti, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the US Virgin Islands.
The objective is to effectively prepare participants for representing their countries in future competitions.
“Historic,” was the word used to describe the initiative by Jamaica Paralympic Association President, Christopher Samuda.
“It is the first time an IPC training session for coaches and technical officials in two sports is being held simultaneously in the Caribbean for regional stakeholders,” Samuda said at a press conference at the Jamaica Olympic Association headquarters in Kingston on Friday.
“Where is this leading us? Establishing Jamaica as a hub for regional and international technical training and capacity building and the forum next month will be a driver,” he added.
The activities will conclude with the Velocity Fest on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at the National Stadium, where athletes will showcase their newly acquired skills.
This will also be the first time in the history of the Paralympic movement that a world certified technical official will preside over the meet. That world certified technical official is Sodia Peters.
“This has always been a dream of mine and to see it become a reality, I am very happy. I’m very elated to represent Jamaica at the highest level,” said the World Para-Athletics Technical Delegate.
“I want to be the first of many and I want to impart the knowledge that I’ve garnered to ensure that we are living up to the international standards here in Jamaica, not only producing world class athletes but we need world class officials, technical delegates and coaches in Jamaica as well,” she added.
This will be the second consecutive year that para-athletes will be competing at the Velocity Fest.
More than 20 para-athletes will be participating in the meet in areas such as long jump, shot put, the sprints and the 400m.
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