Most people in the grandstand are not regular watchers of the ABC’s 4 Corners programme but with the sporting theme dominant, it was watched with interest last week. The topic was all about the irregularities (many commentators called it cheating) that is going on in the Paralympics. The Paralympics after all is the third biggest sporting event in the world after the Football World Cup and the historic Olympics.

It reminded me of times when I was on a panel of people to select who should be the ‘sportsperson of the year.’ Usually there was a disabled athlete featured and they attracted support (if not sympathy) from panellists. I was always of the opinion that success should always be judged by the quality of the opposition when making comparisons.

The problem with the Paralympics is the classification system. For example, in swimming there are fourteen classification levels and what was pointed out was the time you did for say 50m would win you a gold medal but if you went up a level that same time saw you come last. Note also that there are some 22 sports listed for the Paralympics and the world body acknowledged that it has been going on in all sports for some time.

The worst example happened when in basketball the winning Spanish team was found guilty by way of 10 of their players actually faked their disability (intellectual). Then there was the individual who came off the velodrome with the blind stick and the next year featured in another sport where sight was a necessity.

Then of course there is the type of disability. The physical disability could see you affected in the limbs (part of or both), or it could be blindness, cerebral palsy or simply intellect. How you compare each of these to get to a common level would be so difficult.

In the programme one competitor that was interviewed said that she kept calling out ‘CHEATER’ to an opponent who in her mind should not have been there. How offensive would that have been but apparently it is quite common given the history of this event.

The phrase that was used a lot in the programme was ‘intentional misrepresentation’ which was all about securing yourself the ideal slot to give you the best chance of winning. A good example of that was when athletes were told to ‘fatigue themselves’ by overexerting themselves prior to qualifications. In other words, try to be ‘the worst version of yourself.’ How sad is that!

But it went even further (higher) than that. Apparently, some coaches go and watch able bodied athletes perform and if there is anything ‘unusual’ about their style or gait they will get some expert to look at them and see if it is possible for them to qualify for Paralympics. That is even sadder.

In summary then, I really feel sorry for the genuinely disabled athletes. They must have the opportunity to compete against like abled competitors. Certainly not cheats.