Mencap has raised concerns over whether learning
disabled athletes will be able to compete at the 2012 Paralympics
because of a lack of funding for training.
The warning came after
the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) lifted a nine-year ban
on learning disabled athletes competing at the Paralympics and
related events. They are now set to compete in athletics, swimming,
rowing and table tennis in London in 2012.
The ban - imposed after 10 members of the 2000 gold
medal-winning Spanish learning disabled basketball team were found
not to have a learning disability - led to funding cuts for
learning disabled sport in the UK.
Mencap
chief executive Mark Goldring said: "Everyone at Mencap is
delighted that after years of campaigning, athletes with a learning
disability will no longer be excluded from the Paralympic Games.
However without immediate funding, British athletes will remain
excluded from London 2012 despite the ban being lifted. That would
be a national embarrassment."
Funding body
UK
Sport welcomed the IPC's decision but said it would continue to
fund Paralympic sports based on their ability to deliver medals in
London and subsequent games.
Chief operating officer Liz Nicholl said: "Should the addition
of any athlete with an intellectual disability mean a real chance
of podium success for themselves and their sport, then we will of
course apply our principles and hope to help them in realising that
dream."
Though UK Sport has set funding levels for 2009-13, Nicholl said
an annual review of funding decisions would be taking place next
month.
The IPC's decision was based on a eligibility and classification
system it has developed with the International Federation for sport
for athletes with an intellectual disability (INAS-FID).
Under this, athletes will have to submit appropriate medical
files to the INAS-FID's eligibility committee and, if deemed
eligible, will receive a "sports intelligence" test, carried out by
their sport's governing federation, testing their level of
disability.
INAS-FID president Bob
Price said: "This resolution brings this unfortunate episode to
an end and re-introduces athletes with an intellectual disability
to their proper place within the paralympic family."