The medal that wasn’t: Firstpost Explains why Vinod Kumar’s bronze in F52 discus throw was reassigned

On Sunday, discus thrower Vinod Kumar clinched a bronze medal at the Tokyo Paralympics in the F52 event. The Indian’s throw of 19.91m was good enough for him to take bronze behind Poland’s Piotr Kosewicz (20.02m) and Croatia’s Velimir Sandor (19.98m).

But soon, it transpired that the results of the event were being reviewed.

Deepa Malik, the head of the Paralympic Committee of India, tweeted that some nations had raised an objection over Vinod’s classification after the event.

A communique from the Tokyo 2020 organisers confirmed that results of the F52 event were “currently under review due to classification observation in competition”. It went on to add that the victory ceremony for the event too had been postponed till the evening session of Monday.

Eventually, on Monday, the organisers confirmed that the Indian was deemed ineligible for the event and the result of the F52 event result has been amended following the ‘Classification Assessment in Competition’. Confirming that Latvia's Aigars Apinis was being reassigned the bronze, the Tokyo 2020 organisers said: “Vinod was designated as Classification not Completed (CNC) following classification observation assessment.”

But what does ‘Classification Assessment in Competition’ mean? What does it mean to have an athlete designated as Classification not Completed? And don’t athletes get classified before competition?

Firstpost explains all that and more:

First of all, what’s classification?

Classification is a unique aspect of the Paralympics Games. It serves to determine which Para athletes are eligible to compete in a category of a discipline, thereby making it a fairer contest. But it also ensures that the impact of impairment is minimised.

What does ‘Classification Assessment in Competition’ mean?

Simply put, an athlete’s classification gets assessed during competition.

Don’t athletes get classified much before their competition?

Yes, they do. But the coronavirus pandemic threw up new challenges to this process.

“Due to the pandemic limiting the number of classification opportunities for athletes in several sports over the last 18 months, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has suspended its zero-classification policy for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and allowed Games-time classification in Para athletics and seven other Para sports,” a spokesperson for World Para Athletics (WPA) told Firstpost in an email on Monday.

What is the IPC’s zero-classification policy?

In 2014, the IPC introduced a ‘zero classification policy’ as a “strategic decision to minimise Games-time classification to reduce the impact of any last-minute classification decisions on athletes’ preparation for the pinnacle event of their career and to reduce its operational impact on the Games and the competition schedule.”

In March this year, the IPC had to suspend this policy only for Tokyo 2020 and allow certain Para sports to operationally prepare for conducting classification in Tokyo ahead of the Paralympic Games. This was a one-off measure.

The IPC also asked National Paralympic Committees “to ensure, where possible, that the majority of their athletes are classified prior to the Games at the increasing number of competitions that are now taking place around the world.”

“Since the pandemic began, our classification department has worked tirelessly with the International Federations to provide safe and secure classification. The reality is that for many sports, classification and competition opportunities remain limited, while for others the disruption caused by the pandemic has had a significant impact on athletes’ ability to attend classification before the Games.

“This decision to provide classification opportunities at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games has not been taken lightly by the IPC, bearing in mind the potential impact on athletes who may change class or be found non-eligible at such a late stage. However, the pros outweigh the cons in this matter, and we believe this decision will be welcomed by the athlete community, NPCs and International Federations relieving some of the pressure they face,” IPC President Andrew Parsons had said in March this year.

What went wrong with Vinod?

“The athlete, Vinod Kumar, was initially allocated in the F52 sport class with status “OA”, meaning the athlete’s sport class allocation was not final yet and was subject to observation in competition,” the World Para Athletics spokesperson told Firstpost. (OA, or Observation Assessment, is an integral part of athlete evaluation. Simply put, it’s the process by which an athlete is assessed in order for them to be allocated a sport class and designated a sport class status.)

“Following Observation Assessment in competition and subsequent re-assessment by the classification panel, the panel was unable to allocate the athlete a sport class and has consequently suspended the evaluation by designating “CNC” (Classification Not Completed).”

The spokesperson refused to disclose further information about the athlete’s classification “due to confidentiality surrounding classification”.

Paralympic Committee of India President Deepa Malik told PTI on Monday: “Classifications done previously can be challenged during competitions and can be overruled also. There is nothing that India can do now.”

What does it mean to have an athlete designated as Classification Not Completed? And why does an evaluation session get suspended?

As per the World Para Athletics’ Classification Rules and Regulations guideline published in February 2018, there are multiple reasons as to why an evaluation session can get suspended.

 

Since neither World Para Athletics nor Tokyo 2020 organisers have clarified what led to the evaluation session to be suspended, the ball is in the court of the Paralympic Committee of India or Vinod himself to clarify, since the rules also state that an explanation for the decision will be provided to the NSF and the athlete in question.

As an aside, how often must athletes get classified? Isn’t once in their career good enough?

Once an athlete undergoes classification, they are designated a sport class and sport class status. Sport class is the category the athlete will compete in. Sport class status informs the athlete if and when they need to go to classification again.

As a norm, every Para athlete is evaluated at least once at the beginning of their international career. But they can be needed to undergo further evaluations, depending on the type of impairment: some athletes must only be seen once in their career while others might need it more regularly (for example, young athletes, or those athletes with progressive or fluctuating impairments). Para athletes who are the subject of a protest in competition, also need to present for classification.

Who are classifiers?

An international classifier is someone who is trained and certified by an International Federation (IF).

Each international classifier is trained for one specific impairment category (intellectual, physical or vision impairment). According to the IPC website, the following qualifications are most common among classifiers:

Intellectual impairment: psychologists, experts in the sport and biomechanics

Physical impairment: medical doctors, physiotherapists, experts in the sport and biomechanics

Vision impairment: ophthalmologists and optometrists

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