Eligibility and classification of international competitive games for people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

In the Sydney Paralympic Games in 2000, the Spanish basketball team competing in the intellectually disabled (ID) class won the gold medal, but it was revealed that the majority of the team was not ID. Following this scandal, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) decided to suspend the ID competition sanctioned by the IPC, and the INAS (i.e., the international governing body for ID athletics) and the IPC together commenced developing a new process for determining the eligibility of ID athletes. The project’s main focus was to introduce both generalized eligibility criteria for all ID athletes and criteria tailored to each sport. The procedure of classification now requires that appropriate medical files first be submitted to the INAS International Eligibility Committee for review, and then on-site testing is conducted by a classification panel appointed by the international federation that governs the sport in question. The on-site testing focuses on ‘sports intelligence, ’ and includes tests relevant to that particular sport. As a result of these efforts, track and field, swimming, and table tennis games for ID athletes were reinstated for the 2012 London Paralympics. These procedures place new burdens on persons in charge to assure the accuracy of the criteria. But we, as those involved in the field, have a duty to maintain the opportunity to play competitive sports for people with intellectual disabilities.