IPC at Odds With Athlete Groups

(ATR) Athlete groups call for the reinstatement of all wheelchair basketball athletes for Tokyo 2020, saying they have rightfully qualified.

In an open letter to the International Paralympic Committee, the five athlete organizations said "the exclusion of individual athletes after the completion of the qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Games is illegal and violates the athlete’s fundamental rights" according to the IPC Athlete Classification Code.

The organizations – AthletesCAN, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Advisory Council, Global Athlete, NOC*NSF Athletes Committee, and Athleten Deutschland e.V. – say wheelchair basketball players are being placed in the middle of a governance dispute between the IPC and the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF).

The IPC, in a statement sent to Around the Rings, says the IBWF’s continued reluctance to comply with the IPC Athlete Classification Code for two years beyond the January 1, 2018 deadline forced the IPC in January 2020 to implement a range of measures "to protect the integrity of competition" at Tokyo 2020.

"[A]s part of a range of measures, the IPC asked the IWBF to verify that each 4.0 and 4.5 player set to compete at Tokyo 2020 has an eligible impairment," said the IPC statement.

The IPC said that its "aim with this measure was, amongst other things, to protect the rights of all eligible wheelchair basketball players" and that it didn't want a repeat ofthe Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games when Spain won the gold medal in Basketball ID (Intellectual Disabilities) while using several non-eligible players.

"So far as part of the exercise to verify eligibility, eight existing wheelchair basketball players were found not to have an eligible impairment to compete in Paralympic sport. The IWBF also deemed one existing player not eligible under its own rules," said the IPC.

The IPC says it decided in January against excluding wheelchair basketball from Tokyo 2020 or suspending the IWBF’s membership in the IPC because it "felt this was not necessary, nor proportionate, and would have impacted multiple nations and more than 250 athletes for the Games".

The athlete groups say a "broad consensus exists among athletes and legal advisors internationally that the belated reassessment of certain players is unlawful and grossly violates the athletes’ rights".

The groups urged the IPC to agree to a transitional period ahead of Tokyo 2020 and requested a meeting to work on an amicable settlement to the matter. They want a reply from the IPC by September 7.

Written by Gerard Farek

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