The 18-year-old (pictured top) from Bost first faced controversy over her classification just before last summer's Games nshe was initially declared ineligible to compete in London, as her impairment was deemed not severe enough to qualify her as a Paralympic athlete, only to be cleared after an appeal against her expulsion was upheld.

However, the IPC now says that additional testing has "failed to provide sufficient evidence of an eligible impairment".

"IPC Swimming can confirm that Victoria Arlen of the USA will not participate at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships and future IPC Swimming competitions having failed to provide conclusive evidence of a permanent eligible impairment," read an IPC statement.

"Following her classification at the London 2012 Paralympic Games last August, IPC Swimming requested a medical report into her impairment within 12 months.

"This was duly provided by the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) on 24 July 2013.

"The medical report has been reviewed by five independent medical experts.

"All are in agreement that the report, its assessment and its diagnosis fail to provide sufficient evidence of an eligible impairment leading to permanent or verifiable activity limitation - which is required under the IPC Swimming Classification Rules and Regulations.

"Therefore the athlete has been found non-eligible to compete in IPC swimming competitions.

"Following a USOC appeal, the Board of Appeal of Classification (BAC) upheld the decision on Friday (9 August)."


USOC Paralympic chief Charlie Huebner admitted his organisation is disappointed with the ruling and called for improvements to the IPC's classification process.

"We feel strongly that this athlete is Paralympic-eligible and deserved the right to undergo classification evaluation in Montreal," he said.

"To learn of her change in eligibility three days before a scheduled classification evaluation is not taking the best interest of any athlete into consideration.

"Regardless of the outcome, we also feel the IPC classification process has to improve for all athletes throughout the world.

"As athlete-centric organisations, we can't allow decisions on the eligibility to compete to be resolved days before a major competition, especially after the athletes have spent months or years in training for that competition.

"We, along with other National Paralympic Committees will continue to request that the IPC review the classification process to take into consideration the best interests of Paralympic athletes throughout the world."

The has already launched a review of the Classification Code it uses to class athletes for all sports at the Games, which could see approved changes in place as early as in 2015.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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