Some rules are sacred

The International Paralympic Committee have now been forced to accept that their classification for mental disability has been preyed on by cheats. Since Spanish magazine Capital ran a story by Carlos Ribagorda, who revealed how he had ducked all controls and become a member of Spain's gold medal winning team, the Paralympic movement have been struggling to deal with the problem. Only two of Spain's team of 12, reported Capital, were intellectually handicapped. Now a follow-up investigation has revealed that it wasn't just the basketball team who flouted the rules. There are specific criteria to be fulfilled before an athlete can qualify as intellectually handicapped but no real checks were carried out. The exposure has now left an embarrassed movement and many legitimate athletes wondering if their future in international sport has been taken from them.