IPC not out of the Woods

By Paul Carter

ParalympicsGB has criticised the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) over its decision to make Shelly Woods hand back the silver medal she won in the controversial women’s T54 5,000m final.

Britain’s Paralympic Association had been silent on the issue since the crash occurred on Monday afternoon, but late yesterday evening (Tuesday) it issued a statement calling the treatment of Woods “unacceptable”, and said the British team was “particularly disappointed” that the medal ceremony was held before the protest was resolved.

It said that for the past 24 hours, ParalympicsGB had been trying to ensure proper procedures and processes were followed, and found that although they had been, all of the supporting documentation had yet to be submitted.

“It’s unacceptable that Shelly was presented with a silver medal when the result was not yet official,” said ParalympicsGB chef de mission, Phil Lane.

“Following this incident we strongly feel that communications between the personnel handling protests and those running the medal ceremonies need to be improved and we hope that BOCOG and the IPC will take steps to ensure that this situation does not occur again,” he said.

The statement added that ParalympicsGB is now “turning its attention to supporting Shelly Woods as she focuses, not only on re-running the 5,000m race, but also her other important events”.

The rescheduled 5,000m is due to be raced on Friday morning, although Edith Hunkeler, the Swiss racer who caused the initial crash, will not feature as she has been disqualified.