Crashes and controversy as Woods forced to hand back silver

By Paul Carter

There was high drama, chaos and controversy at the Bird’s Nest stadium on day two of the Paralympics, with a major crash overshadowing the women’s T54 5000m final, later causing the result to be overturned.

The race had started out rather sedately, unlike what was to follow, with none of the women wanting to make a break in the early stages.

In the penultimate lap, with the pace beginning to pick up, the Swiss pairing of Edith Hunkeler and Sandra Graf had moved to the head of the field and were beginning to move clear, with Wakako Tsuchida of Japan boxed in behind, while Great Britain’s Shelley Woods found herself stuck on the inside in seventh position.

As they came off the bend with about 500m left to race, Hunkelar seemed to straighten her wheel far too late, causing her to veer into her compatriot and flip over, taking out six other racers in the resulting pile-up and decimating the field.

The spectacular crash left wheels, frames and stricken athletes littered across the inside lanes of the home straight.

There was still more drama to come, as when the remaining racers came back around the final bend to the site of the crash, they were met with a chaotic scene, and had to frantically dodge around officials and first-aiders who were running onto the track, somehow managing to avoid another collision.

Crashes are not unheard of in wheelchair racing, but it did seem to shock the watching crowd inside the stadium, many of who were likely to be getting their first experience of Paralympic sport.

Remarkably, Diane Roy of Canada still managed to set a Paralympic record as she went on to cross the line first in a time of 11:54.03.

It was Shelley Woods though who was the biggest beneficiary, coming through into second place, while USA’s Amanda McGrory came home third.

Speaking after the race, Woods said it was “a dream come true” to have come second in a “pretty eventful race”.

“It’s pretty bad to happen in a Paralympic final but crashes happen. I do feel for the girls, but I’m just so happy,” she said.

All seemed normal after the race, as the three athletes took their places on the podium and were presented with their medals.

However, hours after the race, it emerged that the federations from the USA, Australia and Switzerland had appealed successfully against the outcome, resulting in it being declared void. It will now be re-raced on Friday.

The decision by the IPC is final, and cannot be appealed by Woods, McGrory or the eventual “gold medallist”, Diane Roy of Canada, who will now have to give back their medals.

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson said she thought the decision was “really tough” on the three medallists, especially as it came so long after the conclusion of the race.

“I think if they’d made an announcement before the medal ceremony then the girls would have been slightly more accepting of it.

“The fact that they’ve had their medals, and will now have to give them back, will be very difficult.”