Paralympic disability categories under fire over fairness

TOKYO – They’re supposed to be about making parasports fair, but the category system central to disabled sports and the Paralympics, which classifies athletes according to their impairment, is increasingly under fire.

French swimmer Theo Curin, whose lower legs and hands were amputated after a bout of meningitis as a child, is sitting out the Tokyo Games over his unhappiness with the system and how athletes are assessed.

“Overnight, two people who swim with both their hands appeared in my S5 category. You don’t have to be very smart to understand that having two hands in swimming helps a lot,” the 21-year-old said.

“There are a lot of flagrant inequalities that annoy me and are really ridiculous,” he said.

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