Paralympic athletes and high-ranking officials have expressed alarm at what they say is widespread and growing cheating, calling for urgent action to salvage the credibility of the Games – one of the world's most-watched sporting events.
A Four Corners investigation this week revealed how Paralympic athletes are deliberately exaggerating their impairments to improve their chances of winning medals, sometimes with the tacit approval or even encouragement of coaches.
At the heart of the issue is a classification system meant to level the playing field by grouping competitors based on how their impairment affects performance in their sport.
But Paralympians and senior classifiers from around the globe have told a current International Paralympic Committee (IPC) review how easy it is to exploit flaws in the current system and expressed their despair at the movement's apparent impotence in the face of the cheating.
In comments to the IPC's review of its athlete classification code, Frenchman Richard Perot, the Chair of the Para Badminton Athletes' Commission, wrote that the practice of misrepresenting impairments, known as intentional misrepresentation, was "the biggest threat and … weakness of our system".
He said the difficulty of proving intentional misrepresentation and the fact that penalties were so rarely handed out "tends to promote cheating as the ratio [of] little risk of sanction vs big chance of winning medals is in the favour of cheaters".
"If the community knows there are little chances of sanction, then people will cheat more and more," he said.
In 2016, the IPC investigated more than 80 athletes for intentional misrepresentation but found there was not enough evidence to prove any wrongdoing.
Most recently, Indian discus thrower Vinod Kumar was banned from participating in Paralympic events for two years after the Board of Appeal of Classification found that he intentionally misrepresented his abilities when he presented for classification at the Tokyo Paralympics.
'No repercussions' for cheating, official says
In an IPC document from last year, produced as part of the ongoing classification review, more than 100 current and former competitors and officials from multiple sports and impairment classes detail their concerns with the current system.
The New Zealand-based official Ruth McLaren, who advises World Para Swimming on classification, described a "sense of powerlessness" in the face of "the increasing incidence of … intentional misrepresentation".
"Despite our best efforts, we are never able to get our evidence to the point where we can enforce these parts of the rules … " she wrote.
"This essentially means there are currently no repercussions [for intentional misrepresentation], and athletes and coaches are aware of this and are using this to their advantage."
She said classifiers should have the mandate to carry out random checks of athletes' classification, similar to drug testing.
She also called for "protection for classifiers/ volunteers from threats, bullying and abuse from athletes and coaches as this remains an ongoing issue".
US paralympic rower Laura Goodkind told the review: "It's become clear to me the bigger competition is during classification, not on the playing field."
Goodkind said some athletes decided "to cheat during classification because they know they'll perform better in a certain class".
She said other athletes with spinal cord injuries were being classified early in their recovery, knowing their function would "vastly improve" over time.
Misrepresentation on the rise, official says
Dia Pernot, the head of classification for World Para Nordic skiing, said classifiers needed a clear and formal system to report misrepresentation.
"Intentional Misrepresentation appears to be increasing," she wrote.
Dr Pernot said coaches of national sporting federations might be coaching their athletes to misrepresent their abilities.
"In these cases, there needs to be disciplinary action against the coach, team and [national sporting federation].
"The athlete may themselves be an "innocent" victim of their coach."
Carlos Henrique Prokopiak Garletti, a Brazilian paralympic shooter, ophthalmologist and visual impairment classifier, said national Paralympic committees should be held responsible for misrepresentations by their athletes.
"[It is] not rare to find athletes performing way better than the expected performance for their visual class," he wrote.
He said classifiers should be given the power to lodge protests over athlete classifications.
Under the current rules, only national bodies and international federations may make protests.
Another vision impairment classifier, Tania Jain, called for a tougher approach to intentional misrepresentation.
"I feel that we need to be more strict with it," she wrote.
"Sometimes we just mark an athlete NE [Not Eligible] but don't put intentional misrepresentation."
Calls for independent body to combat cheating
Winnie Timans, a consultant on classification to Germany's Paralympic committee, said the biggest challenge was trust in the classification system.
"Classification, being the cornerstone of para sport, should be transparent and trustworthy," she wrote.
She is one of a number of officials who have called for an independent body to detect and deal with the growing number of intentional misrepresentation (IM) cases.
"Disciplinary actions must be taken against athletes and support personnel that conduct IM," she wrote.
"An independent body with the resources to clear these cases would help in the development of trust in the classification systems.
"There should also be clearer pathways [on] how IM can be identified and which kind of information can count in terms of evidence for IM."
Paralympics Australia's classification manager, Cathy Lambert, also called for an independent body to investigate and respond to allegations of intentional misrepresentation, similar to the role the World Anti-Doping Agency plays on drugs in sport.
She recommended regular spot testing of athletes be considered, along with stronger provisions for whistleblowers and greater sharing of data and intelligence between sports.
The IPC's classification code review process started in 2021 and is scheduled to run for three years.
In a statement to the ABC, the IPC said the purpose of the review was "to further improve classification as a whole and address topics that have been raised by stakeholders, including IPC member organisations and the athlete community".
"Intentional misrepresentation is one of several topics that the IPC and stakeholders have discussed in detail during the review process and will be addressed in the new code…" it said.
"The IPC strongly encourages senior officials and classifiers who have concerns regarding classification to share them with their respective International Federation so that they can be looked into and appropriate action taken.
"The IPC and all International Federations treat intentional misrepresentation as a very serious offence. It is one that can lead to a suspension of up to four years for an athlete and/or athlete support personnel for a first offence and a lifetime suspension for repeat offenders."
'Change needs to happen now'
A new classification code is not expected to be implemented until after the summer and winter Paralympic Games, to be held in Paris in 2024 and in Milan and the Italian ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo in 2026.
But Francesca Cipelli, who competed in athletics for Italy in the Tokyo Paralympics, told the IPC review more urgent action was needed.
Cipelli, who suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was 10 years old, competes in the T37 classification, one of a number of classifications for athletes with coordination impairments.
She said because of flaws in the classification system, she was competing against athletes with cerebral palsy whose impairments had less impact on their sporting performance than hers.
"The Paralympics were created to ensure equal competition between athletes with the same disability, while currently in the brain injury standing categories, this is not happening," she wrote.
"I'll probably never win [a medal] in the current T37 category which I'm in … because my competitors are much stronger than me because their disability affects them in a slighter way than mine does."
Cipelli said the IPC risked losing its credibility if the existing categories were not reorganised before the Paris Games next year.
"This is a real emergency; the change needs to happen now."
Additional reporting: Mary Lloyd
Watch Four Corners' full investigation into the Paralympics on ABC iview.
