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Saturday, August 6, 2011
Tom’s Paralympic dream is shattered
from Haverhill
Echo:
The mother of Haverhill-trained swimming sensation Tom Cole has branded
the classification system that will see him unable to compete at the
Paralympics next year as “discriminating” against Down’s Syndrome.
Double World gold medallist Cole, 22, will be denied the
once-in-a-lifetime chance to line-up in the Games in his home country due
to a system which puts people with Down’s Syndrome into competition with
people without any physical disabilities.
Cole, who holds six European Down’s Syndrome swimming records, alongside
his two World Downs Championship gold medals, will be left to watch the
drama unfolding on television next summer wondering ‘what if’.
The current system used by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
would only allow Cole to compete in an S14 category which covers learning
disabilities with an IQ under 75.
But this does not take into account common Down’s Syndrome physical
disabilities such as narrower windpipes and low muscle tone as well as
restricted height.
Mrs Cole said: “We are gutted and every Down’s Syndrome swimmer in
Great Britain feels the same.
“Physically there are things wrong as well as a low IQ and I cannot see
how IQ would affect swimming.
“I do not know why the IPC do not recognise it when it is a disability
you can diagnose before birth.”
Despite their family having launched a campaign for a change in the
classification system and with MPs around the country having taken up the
fight, nothing has worked with Mrs Cole claiming it is like hitting “a
brick wall”.
Phil Ward, a West Suffolk Swimming coach who has worked with Cole, of
Great Waldingfield, near Sudbury, at Haverhill Leisure Centre, labelled it
“an uneven playing field”.
He said the fact Cole would come up against people much taller and
healthier than himself, with far better muscle tone, meant he could not be
capable of beating them in the pool.
A spokesman for the IPC said Down’s Syndrome athletes were a ‘very
small group of people’ that it would not be realistic for them to cater
for with their own classification.
He said classification had to be done by primary impairment, which, in the
case of Down’s Syndrome, was deemed to be intellectual.
“We are driven by primary impairment and in the case of Downs it
(physical) is a secondary impairment,” he said.
comments:
Nicola house said...
Does
anyone in the IPC actually know anyone with downs syndrome?what a lot of
nonsense they speak! Some people with downs suffer more from physical
disabilities than mental... It's a syndrome, each person with downs is
affected differently, EVERY cell of their body has an extra chromosome,
who knows what parts of each individual it will affect, mentally or
physically. Most people with ds have hypotomia :Essentially hypotonia can
be defined as the muscles lacking stamina. The muscles don't have the
energy to keep working to a normal level. So a person with ds may seem to
do everything just fine, but keep the same muscles working for any length
of time and they will tire faster than a normal person's muscles.
how unfair to make a person who has this compete against someone
without?When you consider how muscles are tied to every physical endeavour
we do, from eating, to talking, to facial gestures, to just sitting still,
you can then start to appreciate the significance this has to an
individual suffering from hypotonia. Hypotonia is devastating, more so in
the earlier years of life.
Just think about what battles Tom Cole has had to go through to achieve
the level of swimming he has... And all the IPC can do is highlight any
mental disability he may have and stop him competing in the paraoympics.
August 8, 2011 6:11 PM
Results available for the May Phillips British Championships
RESULTS
Sarah Louise Casey back on form................ Sarah Louise takes
world record at Paralymic Trials, Pond Forge, Sheffield in the 100
Freestyle.
May
Phillips British National Championships for Down Syndrome 20th September
2008- Reading
Entry Forms
Results for the 3rd British Learning Disability Swimming Championships
and Festival of Swimming - 12/13 July 2008 Sheffield
Day One
Day Two
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