Courtesy: Nate Williams
There’s an Irish saying that “wherever you go, whatever you do, may the luck of the Irish be with you.” But for Ailbhe Kelly, she couldn’t find any luck to change her classification and salvage her international swimming career.
From the age of 15, Kelly was thrilled by racing others and improving herself by chasing down those important personal best times. But five years on as the 2019 World Para-Swimming Championships come to a close in London, so does Kelly’s competitive involvement before she has even reached her 21st birthday.
Why retire from a sport you love so young? This is because of no career-ending injury, it is because Kelly feels that the classification system supposedly designed for fairness amongst disabled swimmers has let her down. The motivation to train for a chance to clock a personal best, but finish 30 seconds or more behind a race winner has gone, leading her to hang up her Ireland swim cap.
“I’ve always come away from competitions pleased if I’ve done a personal best,” said Kelly, who posted a final international time of 5:32.96 in the S8 400m freestyle heats in seventh behind the winning time of 5:02 on Thursday.
“But it gets to the point where it’s difficult to devote yourself to a sport when you know you can’t compete in it properly. I’m swimming against myself all the time. You can only motivate yourself to do that for so long.”
World Para-Swimming revised the classification system in 2018, which Kelly says made her ‘hopeful’ of being switched but was left frustrated by being given the same outcome.
The small brunette with thick-rimmed black glasses has never medalled at a major meet and was never going to due to the strength of those at the top of her class.
Although, competing at a home European Championships in Dublin last year and her only Paralympic Games in Rio 2016 meant a great deal to her.
Kelly has a condition called Arthrogryposis, which is defined as a congenital issue that causes joint contracture and muscle shortening, meaning for her that she can’t use her legs to swim like some of her other competitors.
“When everyone else dives in, I’m already in the water,” explained Kelly, who uses a wheelchair for mobility. “Being behind everyone else from the start, it’s difficult to accept that.”
One of Kelly’s fellow S8 swimmers said they ‘felt bad’ that she retired early because of the wide margins in their class.
However, Kelly would like to see more of a stand against the system being made by those that have benefitted from it.
“I find it frustrating that the top swimmers in the classifications say they shouldn’t be in the class that they are in, but they have to go with it,” she said.
“These people are in the best position to speak out and to say they don’t agree with it. They have the best platform to speak out and the IPC will take notice of them. The IPC really care about their medal winners as spokespeople and if they say they’re not happy, that will cause more of a reaction.”
She added: “If you’re at the top of a classification and you’re not personally being effected by still winning medals, that doesn’t mean it’s not your problem. Those people have a responsibility.”
For a classification to be complete, there is a bench test where an athlete’s strength and range of movement on each limb is tested and given a score. This is then supposed to be reflected with a score given for performance in the water.
Kelly says more research is needed on World Para-Swimming’s part because when she tried to prove she was held back by drag to decrease her score; it was dismissed.
“The system is too black and white, and it doesn’t allow for any other circumstances or evidence,” Kelly explained.
“We tried to show proof of the effects that drag has on the position of my legs in the water. We were told that they wouldn’t even look at any of this evidence. That was disappointing because drag is a big part of swimming. If that can’t even be taken into account by the classifiers, then I think there’s something wrong.
“They tell us research is being done but that’s been going around for years and we haven’t seen anything come from it.”
At London’s World Championships, 28 world records have been broken as of Saturday and Kelly says these marks should be a warning sign to the sport’s governing body. She feels that records set by people who shift class should be erased as a result of their move.
“I think this competition has made people realize it’s at a crisis,” Kelly said.
“The one thing that frustrates me is the people who got moved up from my class as an S8 to an S9, the world records they set still stand until someone else breaks them. Even if the IPC change the system again, and admit they made some wrongs, nobody is going to be near those records, so they should be wiped.
“It decreases the value of them if they are allowed to stand. The longer this goes on, it decreases the value of the medals because they are not won fairly.”
Kelly recognizes that World Para-Swimming has a tough task ahead and hopes that one day they will correct some of the flaws that exist in the framework.
“I personally would like to see them acknowledge that there is something really wrong here,” she said. “While they are doing their best to make change, the system is flawed and it’s putting others at a disadvantage.”
Looking to the future, Kelly has no regrets on her decision and hopes to see the sport she loves thrive through new ideas.
“I hope for them that the system gets better but for me it wasn’t going to change,” Kelly stated.
“For the amount that I was putting in, it wasn’t worthwhile for me to do as a competitive swimmer, but I hope there is change. Para-athletes are entitled to fair sport and I’ll still be following it all.”
It’s quite apt that Kelly will now look forward to moving to Milan, where she hopes to complete her studies in international relations. Hopefully by the time she’s finished her course, the relationship between athlete and governance in her sport will be on clearer terms. It might need the luck of the Irish to see that happen.
12 September 2019; Ailbhe Kelly of Ireland competes in the heats of the Women’s 400m Freestyle S8 during day four of the World Para Swimming Championships 2019 at London Aquatic Centre in London, England. Photo by Sportsfile
Paige Leonhardt another classification cheat!!!
Claimed disability: Cerebral Palsy following car accident at age 5 Classification: S10, SB9, SM10, N/E. Now attempting an S14 Classification at the 2019 INAS Global games in Brisbane. Note; Leonhardt rubbed out of the S10 Classification with an N/E in Melbourne Australia in February 2019.
Port Macquarie coach Michael Mullins threw her out of the Port swimming club in 2015 due to her classification cheating. Mullins stated he was not going to compromise his upstanding coaching reputation by engaging in cheating.
2016 made her Paralympic debut in Rio where she finished 6th in both S10 100m Butterfly and Breaststroke finals.
2018 at the Commonwealth Games she won silver medal, nearly beating genuine S10… Read more »
I’m sure you do need an IQ over 75. But it’s much the same as Victoria Jessamine being put forward for classification who scored a 95 ATAR result last year and is studying at University! Topped the state in one subject and top band for two others! Australia is trying to her get her approved as S14.
Sadly, after Sydney 2000 games with the S14 Spanish basketball debacle, and the subsequent banning of S14 sport category for 12 years. It appears the S14 ranks have been infiltrated again by IM cheats worldwide. So much for protecting Para-sport from the IM cheats.
Brendan ‘Mullins stated he was not going to compromise his upstanding coaching reputation by engaging in cheating’. Commendable of course, but to whom did he state this and was it verbal or in writing – Swimming Australia? His Coaches Association? What grounds did he have for throwing Leonhardt & her family out of the swim club and wouldn’t those reasons be documented / recorded by the swim club for its own protection? By the way, didn’t he coach James Magnussen once upon a time? I’m just curious regarding potential paper trails because it is similarly rumoured that swimmer Lakeisha Patterson, then aged 14, was kicked out of the Southern Cross Swim Club. One would like to think that the reasons… Read more »
People let’s have a real debate regarding the inept classification system. What are your ideas, solution/options to make the current para-swimming classification system better? With all the athletes, coaches, parents, officials and sports journalists present in the Swim Swam family, surely, we could debate and come up with some real positive brain storming solutions, amongst ourselves to help this beautiful sport.
For example, could a Golf type handicap system work in Para-swimming???
Could a handicap system be added to the current classification system, where the swimmers are graded by their fastest swim times instead.
Example in golf (match play), the handicap difference between players is used to determine the number of strokes the high handicap player should receive… Read more »
Here’s my idea, Lakeisha Patterson is a blatant disability fraud so let’s not invent a handicap system which will ultimately result in supporting people like her, her family and her support team. The classification system would work (for everyone other than neuros it seems) and if it was properly policed.
Du Toit’s 400m Free S9 WR is 4:23.81, Rivard’s S10 WR is 4:29.27.
So if you take away the whole IM issue, you’re having a whinge about the winner of the race because she swam roughly 12s slower than S9 WR pace, and because 2nd place was a further 7s away.
Next you’re going to tell me Simone Barlaam needs to be reclassified to S10 because no-one else in S9 class can keep up.
I’ll just repeat something previously said by Paul Thomas
‘Fundamentally, … classification isn’t about “competitiveness,” it’s about level of impairment.’
Oh please!!! Lakeisha Patterson will wipe Natalie’s World Record. She wasn’t ever going to do it at Worlds but she will do it. And exactly, classification is about the level of impairment meaning that you’ve actually got to have one. All she was ever going to do was get her WC Title & gold medal and swim uncompetitively in every other race – including the fly leg of the relay. Her team mates must be really pleased.
Patterson will wipe Du Toit’s record? Dream on. But don’t let me stop you from cheering her on.
Nope, that is not what people are saying, 99luftballoons. You have completely missed the point.
Probably.
But I was responding to the single paragraph of Christian’s post where they stated “A perfect demonstration…”
As I stated… “if you take away the whole IM issue” and purely look at the times swum, Christian really only highlighted a lack of depth in talent in the women’s S9 class for 400m free, and possibly S10 as well.
You’re telling me Simone Barlaam should be an S9 when Andre Esteves was removed from S10 and was deemed an “able body” swimmer?
I don’t believe I said anything like that at all.
The very abrupt, unfortunate and early end to Andre’s magnificent career in Para swimming is right up there with Ian Silverman’s ‘not eligible’ classification decision from a few years ago.
The classifiers, IPC swimming and the CAS need to explain why they decided Andre lacked sufficient impairment to be an S10 after all these years in the sport.
When they moved ollie Hynd up I thought it was the correct decision but now I am not so sure. In some cases the other swimmers in the class just arent that good and the shallow talent pool is really the problem. Case in point mens S8 100 Back Griswold was way out front but if you look back a few years you can see it should be a lot more competitive than it currently is.
They should compile para athletes medical records independently beginning when the athlete first gets nationally classified. The records should accumulate as the career continues. The same records should be used by the ipc and the NGBs and the same records used for all sports. Further medical conditions introduced after the initial review should be met with great scrutiny and without irrefutable evidence should in most cases be disregarded. Also doctors who are new to the athlete should be vetted for expertise.
They should just get rid of the medal ceremony and go to more of a track and field model where the amputees compete separately. Neuros they can just classify as low medium or high. Let them battle it out… Read more »
Taa- that’s an interesting idea. It would essentially be the same concept as the ‘blood passport’ program – they test your blood often enough that they can detect changes in levels of different chemicals and hormones and scrutinize why those changes happen.
Thats also another good idea Braden.
Again, playing devil’s advocate here if you will, there are serious risks with stockpiling extensive medical dossiers on athletes. That seems like an excellent recipe for privacy breaches.
The idea of demanding “great scrutiny” of any changes in an athlete’s medical condition is a silly overgeneralization. If someone has progressive MS, of course their condition is going to change– it’s literally in the name of the disease. Or take Becca Meyers– sure, she’s now in S12 instead of S13, but that’s because she has progressive vision loss. Of course, there are other conditions like CP that aren’t progressive at all; if someone makes such a claim, it’s appropriate to be extremely skeptical.
I’ve addressed the “separate classifications” thing above.… Read more »
Swimmers can protest. A swimmer would protest to their NGB. Their NGB would protest to WPS. WPS then protests to the ‘Head / Chief Classifier’. I like your idea of raising the competition age. It concerns me that some NGBs seem to recruit very young and vulnerable kids, this would offer a very important layer of protection for children which is currently missing. Regarding the neuros, I’m still amazed at what gets up on to the blocks and why it is so difficult for them to see it. They cannot possibly have the level of expertise ‘in house’ as they claim and, I don’t actually see what is so difficult about classifying neuros if they use impairment appropriate & knowledgeable… Read more »
The website seems to have eaten a comment, but in short, I read TAA as urging the creation of some kind of “private right of action,” whereby a swimmer could directly sue a competitor for misclassification, rather than forcing swimmers to go through governing bodies that may have differing interests.
That would certainly empower individual swimmers… for good or ill.
Brilliant Idea TAA.
Sadly, Ailbhe Kelly is 100% correct when she states that the classification system, supposedly designed for fairness amongst disabled swimmers has let her down. Also, when she stated that 28 world records have been broken as of Saturday and Kelly says “these marks should be a warning sign to the sport’s governing body. She feels that records set by people who shift class should be erased as a result of their move”. This is perfectly demonstrated by Lakeisha Patterson by her deliberate IM conduct in the S8 Category.
The 400m Freestyle is a perfect example when she won the gold medal at the Rio Paralympic games with a World Record time 4:40.33. She then got classified up to an S9… Read more »
Just to bring some perspective on Ms. Kelly’s decision, the USA women had five S7 swimmers who competed last week and all five won medals. All five were previously S8 class. All five were faster than Ms. Kelly as S8 but still got moved down for various reasons. So she stood by and watched 5 competitive S8s get moved down and when she presented evidence of why it was difficult for her to be competitive in her class she was ignored. Easy to see why she quit.
I mean, arguably the problem was the opposite of what you suggest, in that it was insane for at least two of those five (Gaffney and Weggemann) to have ever been in S8 to begin with, and a third (Marks) had a significant and visibly obvious change of her physical condition. Coan presents a legitimate classification puzzle for whom I’m not convinced there’s a clear right answer. I couldn’t find any indication of Lettenberger being reclassified at all, but Google doesn’t know everything. It is odd that she is in a different class from Kelly when they have the same disability, but odd doesn’t necessarily equal wrong and in theory the classifiers could simply have decided that Lettenberger’s case is… Read more »
With responses like this you must work for the IPC
I work for the National Labor Relations Board.* Hell, you can probably find me with a FOIA request. And unlike you, I’m not hiding behind some nonsense pseudonym.
I have absolutely no dog in this fight. That you feel compelled to fantasize that I do rather than engage on the merits is suggestive that your position is not well supported.
*Although since I’m telling you this, I also feel it wise to now give the disclaimer that my views are my own and not those of the NLRB…
Why do you insist on twisting everything people write and trying to make an argument out of it? You can’t see the perspective of Ms Kelly in this situation? Are you saying she is wrong to feel like the IPC has let the sport down?
I’ve “twisted” nothing. You accused me of concealed bias. I rebutted your accusation.
To the extent anyone is “twisting” anything here, it’s you– nowhere on this thread have I said or even hinted at the view that classification is being done optimally. Quite the contrary– I’m trying to figure out what’s causing it (by just about everyone’s judging, including my own) to be done SUBoptimally, in an effort to explore what a plausible solution might be.
Nor have I said anything about Ms. Kelly. I’m not within a country mile of being able to judge the correctness of her decision. I do think it’s a shame that she doesn’t feel like she has the resources (of whatever nature– mental, physical,… Read more »
OK you work for the NLRB. But you must have some association with para swimming to have the knowledge of the swimmers that you obviously do???
TAA, It’s so sad that a beautiful sport like para-swimming, is being eroded and white-anted by IM cheats. Let’s remember that the overwhelming majority (95%) of the para-swimmers worldwide are ethical, honest and exceptional hard working athletes. Sadly, it’s the remaining 5% that are seriously damaging this beautiful sport.
Well, if nothing else comes of this thread, at least I now know an obscure Australian idiom…
I hear an enormous amount of complaining about this– much of it seemingly justified; the classification decisions frequently seem to make no sense. Alice Tai is an S8; Sophie Pascoe, who seemingly has a more significant disability, is an S9. Mallory Weggemann has been forced to change classes more often than a high school freshman. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.
What I’m not hearing is any concrete suggestion as to how to do better. Everyone just says “do it better,” as if that were useful advice. Is it a question of inadequate resources? Inadequate time? Bribery? Surely it’s not just the IPC willfully self-promoting star athletes; if that were the case, they’d keep borderline cases out of Jessica… Read more »
The nature of the problem is now complex and multifaceted. The fact that the IPC is its own governing body is an issue. It means that they do what they like, have no transparency, and their practices are not subject to any checks and balances whatsoever. Clearly they are an organisation lacking ethics and integrity. They throw words and phrases about like “transparency”, “rigorous testing”, and “experts in classification” which obviously is all just garbage. When they are presented with clear and substantive evidence of cheating they ignore it. It appears that certain swimmers are protected and immune to any consequences of fraud so one does have to wonder if bribery is involved. It would be huge progress if classification… Read more »
I’m confused by your opening statement. “The fact that the IPC is its own governing body” – what other model do you propose? If there’s a governing body that governs the IPC, then the IPC in essence doesn’t exist, and some other governing body simply becomes its own governing body, thereby repairing the hole in the matrix.
Probably poorly expressed. I guess the point I was making is that with the IPC everything is kept “in-house”. For example, in able bod sport if someone is caught out for doping it is not dealt with by the IOC – it is WADA that takes over. If a para athlete is caught out cheating the only avenue is reporting to the IPC- they have the absolute power to be judge, jury, executioner (or not- always not) and there is no accountability or transparency re their actions. They are completely a law unto themselves.
I think I can get on board with the general concept of creating an agency to conduct classification– including not just parasport but also sex, cf. Caster Semenya, and weight classification– that is independent of both IOC and IPC. That may reduce some of the lack-of-technical-proficiency problems you identify, IF it’s adequately funded.
But I’m unconvinced that IPC has “ignored” “clear and substantive evidence of cheating” (much less that it is “clear” that they “lack[] ethics and integrity”– a big claim for which you present absolutely zero evidence). Do I personally think Patterson is cheating? You bet your ass. Do I have proof beyond a reasonable doubt of that fact? No. Grainy video footage isn’t going to cut it, and… Read more »
“Grainy video footage”- you are obviously making particular reference to some specific videos.
What videos are you referring to and in what capacity have you viewed said videos?
I’m not making any reference, particular or generalized, to any specific videos. I have no evidence of any kind other than what’s been publicly distributed by NBC and the internet. My opinion that Patterson is, more likely than not, a cheat is based on those facts and no others.
What makes you assume that this is the all the evidence that has been presented to the IPC? That is a fairly big assumption.
And as far as Patterson goes, she exhibits evidence every time she walks and dives in the pool. Any INDEPENDENT neurologist would confirm that her antics are just ridiculous.
With due respect PAUL THOMAS, there is some exceptional video footage of Lakesia Patterson that has been taken over the last 12 months, which would hold up in a court of law as prima facie evidence, I will try and upload you a copy.
I’d be happy to take a look, although I’m not sure what good preaching to the already-converted is going to do you here.
Once again brilliantly stated FRED.
Athletes, coaches, managers and classifiers will cheat and the IPC will turn a blind eye to it all. That’s a given and we are all acutely aware of it now, but it doesn’t mean that it is an insurmountable problem. It is a problem however and the first step to addressing it is for the IPC, NGBs and (if there is such a thing) the Head of Classification to admit it.
IPC: The IPC like to put on a show, and we could all admit that they and Ch4 certainly did that in London – good and bad. They also have a brand to project (and protect) and they appear to be shifting their focus more towards championing Human… Read more »
Some of this is plausible (and I think I’ve addressed those suggestions above), but a lot seems to me like revolutionary dreaming. Rebooting the entire history of para-swimming from “the drawing board” strikes me as a radical solution to a problem that I’m not convinced warrants it.
I do not think you will get a lot of buy-in from anyone when your agenda STARTS with “admit that everything we’ve ever done has been a sham,” particularly since that’s not actually true. People are always going to chisel and cheat at the margins. That’s a fact of sport, and you’re not going to solve it by blowing the whole thing up.
?? Rebooting the entire history of Para Swimming? They have just finished retesting every single swimmer, or offered retesting to every swimmer. As a result Andre Brasil was classed out and Sophie Pascoe classed down – and these are just two examples of top para swimmers off the top of my head. That’s a rewrite right there – except they didn’t rewrite their WRs.
The first step to addressing a problem is admitting that there is one. Brock Whiston and Lakeisha Patterson prove without doubt that there is. So yes, back to the drawing board for the Neurologically impaired. The IPC HAVE to have both the capability AND the desire to address blatant disability cheating. Given that these two… Read more »
Again, we’re in agreement that classification often gets it wrong. But it seems like you would be better satisfied if the classifiers stubbornly refused to admit past errors.
The problem with rewriting old records is that it doesn’t account for changes that aren’t the result of errors, but rather of actual change in people’s medical circumstances. Now, maybe there’s a way to do that if you offer people two separate tracks (one for “changed circumstances” and the other being more like an appeal of a decision the swimmer contends was wrong all along), where only the second/appeals track results in retroactive recharacterization of prior results. Again, my lawyer brain can go crazy with this stuff. But turning parasport into Fun… Read more »
Why would anyone be ‘better satisfied’ if classifiers stubbornly refused to admit past errors? Classifiers are unpaid volunteers. The IPC are not. The integrity of the sport sits with them and imo they are negligent.
As you will be aware, the IPC BAC is an arbitral tribunal, as is CAS, and the IPC will have the burden of proof. It will have to prove IM ‘to the comfortable satisfaction of the BAC, which is GREATER THAN A MERE BALANCE OF PROBABILITY BUT LESS THAN PROOF BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT’. Where there is a reasonable and good faith basis (prima facia evidence) to suspect that cheating has taken place, then an investigation should be undertaken to protect the integrity of the… Read more »
Once again brilliantly stated CONFUSED.
PAUL THOMAS, I am curious to know your thoughts and solutions on how to improve Para-swimming. It appears you are very knowable, and I sincerely think, that we should be all singing of the same sheet of music, if we are to make Para-swimming better and more viable to the sporting public. This is only my humble opinion!!!
Happening over and over again. It is getting to the stage it is only the cheats and those who are incorrectly classed by incompetent classifiers who are left in the sport.
FRED when 28 records have been broken during these championships, this tells the whole world, that something is NOT right!!!
Heartbreaking. I hope Ailbhe’s story motivates swimmers to speak up and to stop protecting disability cheats.
Once again well said CONFUSED.
I born with Larsen syndrome and left arm contracture and very severe scoliosis(fixed lower and middle back and underwater kick is low). Terrible case was also Brenda Tilk case. We must appealing descisions in court. Opened public just like Sun Yang
Agreed!!!