Will the Spanish team?s fraud affect the reputation of Paralympic basketball? Teams such as U.S.A. and South Africa, shown here in the Sydney Paralympics, are keeping their fingers crossed it won?t. Photo by Mark Cowan.

Basketball: Black Mark?

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Last December, the Spanish Paralympic Committee discovered that 10 of the 12 members of the Spanish Paralympic Basketball team for athletes with intellectual disabilities were not intellectually disabled and therefore were not eligible to participate in the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

On January 27, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) suspended the International Sports Organization for Athletes with an Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) from IPC membership. INAS-FID President Fernando Martin Vicente also was suspended from the IPC Executive Committee. Further decisions will depend on the outcome of the IPC?s investigations.



The Truth Comes Out

Carlos Ribagorda, a member of Spain?s gold-medal-winning basketball team in Sydney, said he and other medal winners were not mentally disabled. He made the accusations in a magazine for which he is a journalist. He said up to 15 people on the Spanish Paralympic team (track, table tennis, and swimming) did not have disabilities.

Because of the problems raised regarding eligibility determination, the IPC now excludes all athletes with intellectual disability from all IPC activities. All Paralympic medals recovered as a result of the Spanish committee?s findings will be returned to the IPC.

The IPC appreciates the Spanish Paralympic Committee?s internal investigations and recognizes its strong commitment to a correct eligibility process for the Paralympic Games.

?It?s very hard for us to accept that the role and performance of the Paralympics should be sullied,? said Spanish Paralympic Committee Chairman Jose Maria Arroyo. Spain finished third in the medal standings, winning 107, including 37 gold.



? IWBF Concerned, Willing to Help

The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is concerned about the potential doubt these events cast on the credibility of Paralympic sports in general and basketball in particular. Accordingly, the IWBF community is willing to share its experience in classification.

Highly trained classifiers observe players? functions during wheelchair-basketball competition and assign each athlete a point value based on well-established movement-pattern criteria. During games, scorekeepers total the points of a team?s five players to ensure the squad? does not exceed a predetermined maximum number of points on the floor. IWBF maintains centralized records of each player?s classification, aids used, and seating position.

In 1998, IWBF?s World Congress passed a regulation whereby teams could submit medical documentation substantiating the nature of players? disabilities a full six months prior to a scheduled competition in order to obtain conditional eligibility, with further follow-up and observation at the tournament. The documentation must show that a player?s disability is permanent and affects one or both of the lower extremities so that the player is not able to jump, cut, or run.

The IWBF has incorporated appeals processes. The system has assisted teams in selecting appropriate players with minimal disabilities?those that may not be apparent to casual observers. Such a system could be instituted using recognized standards for intellectual disability as well.

Contact: www.iwbf.org

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