[Visual description: Wheelchair athlete McFadden is seen racing on a track in her adapted racing wheelchair.]
From Sports Illustrated:
A female Paralympic medalist with spina bifida, Tatyana McFadden, faced opposition against participating in track events at her high school in Columbia, Maryland based on safety fears and the fear that she has an unfair advantage.
For the last year, she has waged legal action for the right to compete in high school sports, suing in federal court. She was allowed to race last spring. The county has backed off on the lawsuit. Yet there is another setback: the state ruled this month that wheelchair athletes were not eligible to earn points for their teams if they raced.
McFadden states that she wants to belong to a team and her biggest thrill was riding on the team bus with other athletes.Tatyana is quoted as saying "The big issue is that nobody has had to deal with this before."
Tatyana, who was adopted from a Russian orphanage by American parents, has competed in wheelchair sports since around the age of seven.
Tatyana McFadden 's photo appears in the magazine with the caption underneath "Wheel life- State officials say McFadden's chair gives her an unfair advantage".
2 comments:
What an interesting dilemma! To deny her the experience of being on a team, traveling with them, and sharing the joy of a team victory would be wrong. BUT, she would have an unfair advantage, wouldn't she? If she raced in longer distances, where her arm strength would be fairly pitted against some other racer's leg strength I would fight for her right to participate. It's the short distance races that I think she would have an unfair advantage.
I think that if it is proven that she has an unfair advantage, there are ways to address that - by adjusting the times perhaps. I know that when I duct tape my tennis racket on and get two bounces (instead of one bounce) playing able bodied people in tennis and then win, some folks claim that I, as a quadriplegic playing in a wheelchair, have an unfair advantage. If I take the duct tape off, I can't hold the racket, but I will give them two bounces if they get too upset. They really get upset if they see I can't even open a bottle of water but I just beat them! LOL
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