Sarah Storey Winning Fifteenth Gold Medal At Paralympics, Is It A Level Playing Field?

[dave50]

As far as I know, her only disability is a her left hand and the handle bar of her bike has been adapted to suit. Shouldn't she be competing with able bodied riders? It doesn't seem fair on the others, perhaps I'm missing something. Apart from this I also don't know how they can make things totally fair in some of the sports in the paralympics because disabilities are so varied. I can't help but find some of it rather contrived. Controversial opinion and I know its the paralympics so therefore it must be all good and no criticism is allowed.

[margarettom]

Sarah Storey has competed in able bodied events but, because of her disability, she is not so successful.

[sddsddean]

I'm a big cycling fan, so have followed her story for a few years. I remember seeing a TV prog that said she was actually good enough to ride with the Olympic team (especially when she was a bit younger...not being ageist, just true!), but the IOC wouldn't let her because she is "disabled", so she had no choice but to ride as a Paralympian.

[Ken4155]

There are numerous levels of disability (classifications) in almost every event. All those who took part in the C5 Individual Pursuit would have had similar disabilities. Sarah was born without a functioning left hand. Crystal Lane-Wright (silver medalist) has an underdeveloped left arm.
As far as i know, none of Sarah Storey's competitors have ever raised any objections.

[dave50]

She's now got 17 gold medals, is something not right?

[Mozz71]

She races, and before that swam, against like disabled athletes. It's a fair playing field. I dont see why you seek to diminish her quite remarkable achievements.

[mushroom25]

she raced in torrential rain. unlike those formula 1 wusses......

[THECORBYLOON]

There's a link here to guidance from cycling's governing body, the UCI, about para-cycling classifications.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&;source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.uci.org/docs/default-source/rules-and-regulations/16-par-20210101-e.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi59vr83-DyAhUSgP0HHVZPCLAQFnoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1IqBNhHY4ZCcuxjjkGUVpT

[goodgoalie]

Exactly what I was wondering: how does one non-functioning hand impede her ability to cycle? And is she competing only against others with one non-functioning hand?

[Ellipsis]

Miserable gits!

[goodgoalie]

Ellipsis - do you have answers to my questions?

[Mamyalynne]

GG it would be almost impossible to ensure that all Paralympians in a contest had a virtually similar disability.

The parameters they use to decide who competes may not be perfect but not sure I could devise a better scheme.

[goodgoalie]

That's all I'm asking: what are the disabilities of those against whom she is competing. I'm all for level playing fields - in sport and in life.

[Mamyalynne]

You'd have to research her races and check the disabilities of the other competitors.

[Ellipsis]

The Paralympics have rules, she qualifies, she beats people with similar disabilities to herself. If you have a problem with that, it's with the Paralympics itself ... not this contestant who's dedicated her life to achieving what she has.

[THECORBYLOON]

The race was for those in the C4 and C5 classifications. Sarah Storey is in C5 and page 44 in the link I posted, gives details of what conditions fall within it.

The conditions covered for C4 are listed on page 43 in the same link.

[Mamyalynne]

Thanks Corby.

[THECORBYLOON]

Even if you knew the particular disability of each competitor, how would you know to what degree that affected their ability to ride a bike at speed?

[Mamyalynne]

Exactly, we wouldn't would we.

GG is asking questions that we cannot answer.

[THECORBYLOON]

By "you", I mean anyone querying the fairness and not those qualified to determine the classifications.

[Ken4155]

As i said earlier, i've never heard of any of her competitors raising objections in any of the Paralympics she has taken part in. That leads me to believe that they think it's a level playing field which matters more to me than one or two disgruntled viewers.