The 17-year-old (pictured above) burst onto the scene earlier this year at the US Paralympic trials where she smashed Simmonds' (pictured below) S6 100 and 400 metre freestyle world records to establish herself as a major London 2012 gold medal contender.

However, Arlen was ruled ineligible for the Games by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) just days before the start of competition as her impairment was deemed not severe enough to qualify her as a Paralympic athlete

The move came following the standard re-testing of athletes by the IPC, which traditionally takes place prior to all major championships.

However, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) appealed against the classification, which has now been upheld following a second classification evaluation.

The second classification determined that her sport classes will remain as S6 - SB5 - SM6.

"We firmly believed that Victoria Arlen's original sport class as S6 was correct and we followed the IPC's appeal process to ensure that her case was given full and proper consideration," said the secretary general of the US delegation Charlie Huebner.


"Victoria is a world class athlete and incredible ambassador for the Paralympic Movement.

"Team USA is looking forward to her competing in her first Paralympic Games event on Saturday."

However, the IPC have also said they will not make a final decision until they have observed Arlen in competition.

This means that the American could potentially win the gold medal and then be stripped of it by IPC classifiers.

The IPC have also revealed they were hindered in the first classification of Arlen, a former champion able-bodied swimmer who was left paralysed in 2006 by a virus that affected her spinal cord, because certain information wasn't given to them.

"Following evaluation in London, the USA swimmer Victoria Arlen was ruled Non-Eligible (NE)," said an IPC statement.

"This ruling was made because certain information was not provided to the Classification Panel at that evaluation.

"A second assessment has now taken place, with Arlen providing the information absent from the first evaluation at this second assessment.


"The outcome of the assessment is S6 - SB5 - SM6, being the class Arlen was entered into London 2012 for.

"The class allocation is subject to any modification that may be made following observation in competition."

Although the new ruling has a major impact on Britain's golden girl Simmonds, ParalympicsGB is not commenting on the decision.

"This is an issue for the IPC and USOC," a spokesperson for the ParalympicsGB swimming team told insideworldparasport.

Of the 245 athletes classified at London 2012 so far, 142 have had their status confirmed, with 40 competitors being moved to different classes.

Athletes moved to a new class include two-time American Paralympic champion Justin Zook (pictured above) and team-mate Mallory Weggemann, the eight-time world champion, who will now compete against athletes considered to be more able-bodied.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
August 2012: US Paralympic swimming stars reclassified ahead of competition