Intro welcome back to another video of mine in this video today i'm going to be going in more depth and detail about how the ipc the international paralympic committee got yet another decision so so wrong this is a video about my experience with them in aberdeen in february 2022. this video is an in-depth more detailed follow-on from the recent video that i uploaded onto my youtube channel regarding aberdeen that was titled an update to my swimming career in 2022 i traveled up to aberdeen for Commonwealth Games Qualifying the world power series which also doubled as a last chance qualification event for this year's commonwealth games this event also had another significance this would be an event where i had to be reclassified let me quickly explain to you the significance of classification within paraswimming the ipc the international paralympic committee The IPC Classification System Explained have to ensure that their athletes participate and compete in a fair sport therefore every athlete is placed within a particular classification or category now obviously it goes without saying there are many different disabilities in this world in terms of power swimming they are divided into three different categories if you like physically disabled visually impaired or people with learning difficulties i have mild cerebral palsy it has affected me since birth and this just means that i'm weaker down the right hand side of my body particularly in my leg and i cannot get my leg to build muscle or do particular movements um whether that be in or outside of the pool so my disability cerebral palsy affects me in swimming therefore i'm a swimmer that has a physical disability and in terms of power swimming there are physical categories from s1 to s10 now i feel very fortunate that my disability is mild compared to a lot of other people i have until february being placed in the s9 sb 8 sm9 category the s9 is for front crawl or backstroke the sb8 is breaststroke typically that will be lower for everybody hence the 989 numbers so the breaststroke is a stroke where everybody really races a category lower compared to their other events the sm number so sm9 for me is for individual medley so my classification was an s9 sb 8 sm 9. that's a mouthful let's jump straight into the actual saturday where i was reclassified so on the morning of My Classification in February 2022 classification i went to the pool the aberdeen sports village pool which was used for competition on the following week and there are three different parts to the reclassification the first part is a bench test so let me explain to you what that's all about so step number one of a classification or reclassification is the bench test and the bench test takes place in a separate room from the pool this is done by two classifiers that have to be from two different nations and essentially the bench test is there to manipulate your body for the classifiers to get an understanding as to what movements can or cannot be done now in particular with me i suffer with sort of a tight calf achilles area in my right leg and a lack of function so i have quite a tight ankle which means i don't have the the ankle flexibility that an able-bodied person or swimmer would have so that is sort of the main area from for me um where i'm affected with my disability there are other areas as well within my leg but that is the main one during a bench test there is also a member of coaching staff for me it was was a british coach that made sure everything was done properly in terms of the classifiers he had to make sure that the classifiers were doing the tests properly but he did not have any input apart from that so that's the bench test summed up really just manipulating your body and allowing the classifiers to get an understanding of your medical history and what you can and cannot do in terms of movement step number two for the classification and probably the most important part is now a water test now back in the day a water test used to be used for about 10 or 15 minutes to watch the swimmer swim all strokes and dive in etc all the basics of swimming now since 2016 the ipc have changed the rules for classification and it is a lot more of a heavier focus on the water test which i think is a good thing because it really allows or should i say should allow the classifiers to really gain knowledge visual knowledge of what the swimmer can and cannot do in the pool and how really the disability affects the swimmer so in aberdeen i swam for about an hour with the classifiers telling me what stroke they wanted me to do at what pace diving in all different forms of actual swimming so i get changed i dive in the pool we do a few lengths warm up and then that's it we're into the water test for classification now on this the classifiers wanted to see me build a length of front crawl and then hold a particular pace on the way back so we've done lots of hundreds long course on different strokes they also had to look at sculling kicking arms only streamlined how i float how i move in the water all sorts of different efforts now obviously for me if you've got the knowledge of why i went to aberdeen and what i was aiming to do at the commonwealth games you will know that the breaststroke was was crucial for me now for the commonwealth games the 100 breaststroke is only a male event for an sb7 or an sb8 swimmer obviously for me being an sb8 it's crucial that i stand the same classification or go lower now over the last few years i do actually feel like my disability is a lot clearer to me i don't know if it's whether you know i've just grown older and i'm more knowledgeable about how my disability affects me and how it feels in the pool or limits me in the pool but i do actually feel like my breaststroke kick is rubbish compared to what it used to be and that's not me like trying to cheat the system at all i have spent a year where i've had to get quicker on 100 breaststroke just to try and hit the qualifying time for for the games so as you can imagine i have gone all in on trying to get better there's no like there's no point in me holding back we're trying to cheat the system like some other people we've seen in the past do i ultimately had to to swim a particular time and all season i'd been getting quicker but i hadn't quite achieved the time yet so it was crucial that i was swimming on form and i was trying the hardest i could um at this reclassification and the following week at competition the one floor that i've i've really found in the system during the reclassification event was actually to do with my cerebral palsy so for you for those of you that don't know cerebral palsy is a cognitive issue How Cerebral Palsy Affects My Swimming / What the Classifiers Missed where the brain doesn't transfer the correct signals to a certain part of your body so for me my right leg is weaker and that's because i have slight brain damage from birth on breaststroke i have a really weak kick and this is because my brain cannot transfer the correct information to my right leg or right foot to be able to turn it out so obviously on breaststroke you need to turn your foot out to grab hold of the water my foot cannot do that at all really is very slightly if at all um so therefore if i'm not catching hold of the water with the inside my foot i cannot grab the water to force it back so i therefore i'm still kicking i'm creating more drag more resistance and also coupled with actually creating less propulsion on top of that my left leg can kick properly so it knocks my hips out of line so i'm not kicking on the right plane on breaststroke i cannot turn my right foot out to grab the water i have increased drag because of this and less propulsion because of this therefore on a late dominant stroke and you know i can't really do what i need to be able to do therefore the flaw in the actual water test at the reclassification was the fact that they saw me do breaststroke to start with you know so two lengths of easy breaststroke but they did not tie me out to the point of fatigue on breaststroke where they watched me at the end of 100 meters at race pace obviously at a competition racing 100 breaststroke with cerebral palsy when i cannot kick properly and i have higher fatigue in that leg means that my stroke in terms of efficiency is going to change over the 100 meter race so you know i could get 75 meters before you really see the true fatigue i'm already at a disadvantage anyway to begin the breaststroke with so the first 50 of the breaststroke i might go fast but i'm still not able to turn my foot out so my stroke is compromised anyway but it's the it's the end of the 100 breaststroke for me in my head i was like why they why are they not looking at that obviously when you're racing at a competition you have to be in the right category in the right classification for it to be fair it doesn't matter what you do in training it doesn't matter what you do outside of the pool it's how your disability affects you in the pool in a race scenario so at the end of 100 where i'm most fatigued where you're going to really see my cerebral palsy affect me the classifiers did not think to look at that and that just absolutely baffles me like how can that be fair still frustrated about that now um as i think anyone would be now i actually traveled up to aberdeen for i think it was ten nights so this classification actually took place six days before the the big day for me the 100 breaststroke um heats and finals unfortunately because of the decision i did not even make it to the competition date and because of what i was told after the water test so step three of classification really is actually being told a provisional classification what category they think they're going to place you into and then step four will therefore be watching you at competition to make sure they haven't got anything wrong after the water tests i climb out of the pool get myself dry The Result of my Classification get myself changed and the two classifiers come over sit me down poolside and explain that they have moved me up to an s10 from an s9 an sb9 from an sb8 and an sm10 from an sm9 so in everything i've been moved up by one category i remember my initial reactions being like what the you know i was at absolutely seething i was appalled because i know my own body and i'm not again i'm not trying to cheat the system at all i have not improved in my disability at all and i understand that the classification system since 2016 has tried to be improved therefore i think it's actually been tougher on a lot of people but still for me there is no way on the the least impaired category there is in world power swimming i mean you only have to go and look at the rankings to to realize that that there is no way i can compete for example 100 breaststroke i'm trying to hit a time of one minute 25 seconds for commonwealth qualification time for an sb8 you know for an s an sb9 in world swimming that they're going under 110 so okay right i'm 28 years old let's go back to drawing board work hard and chop 15 seconds off is that right i mean that's just not possible if i could i would you know i'll get it done but it's mind blowing really if you think about it so within a few hours i not only had my classification pretty much taken away from me if you like i'd actually had the chance of going to commonwealth completely wiped away from me because if you remember commonwealth games only allow male swimmers to swim the sb7 or sb8 100 breaststroke and i'm now moved up to an sb9 it is no longer an event that i can even try and qualify for the commonwealth games for so i spent a year of essentially wasting my time to be uh classified to to not even having a sniff no chance at all of going to the commonwealth games so you can imagine how i felt uh extremely angry frustrated and obviously being 28 looking beyond this year i now have to compete in a class that is just streaks ahead of me and that's not through you know them being better working hard you know i'm prepared to work my ass off but realistically i'm 28 it's i'm you know that ship sailed if you like so the ipc international paralympic committee have just taken everything away from me uh like that and it's it's a headache it's a real headache um so yeah so when i sat down with them i did have some words for them to you know had questions that i wanted answering like really just like what have you seen today to suggest that i'm an sb9 that the worst part of it all was they have to wait to watch you at competition to then confirm your classification and so i was still under review if you like except from breaststroke so that the one confirmed you know classification number for me was for the breaststroke and that was obviously what i went to aberdeen for so forget the front crawl forget the medley i was there for 100 breaststroke they left me in review status for front crawl and medley which means that that could have been changed up or down but it hardly changes you know after they watch competition anyway but i was left confirmed as a 100 breaststroker so they knew 100 that they wanted me in a as an sb9 even after seeing what my leg cannot do in the pool so it just i mean they've made a mockery of of my swimming essentially and uh it hurts it's been i think seven and a half weeks since Since Commonwealth Trials that fateful day and i have not swam since just because it's completely thrown me so i've been to the pool about 50 times since i reckon because i'm a swim coach however i've not actually jumped back in a pool yet um so i think i will do but that definitely will not be in the form of power swimming why should i represent a movement that is you know states it's fair but it clearly isn't and they've completely ripped my goals away from me so there is i can tell you right now i'm almost sort of retiring from paris room and that's not happening i would like to jump in the pool soon to start producing more content online and for all of you to enjoy so i can show you what i can do and how to help you because i get a lot of you know i get a massive kick from giving something back to um to people online and try and help your swimming as best i can i will probably end up competing at masters competitions as well because that's something you know i did enjoy i have a little chance of going to uh european masters this year so depending on when i get in the pool that might be a target of mine if not maybe another year yeah i'm not going to compete at a power event anytime soon if at all because i refuse to swim in the wrong class you might also think well how did you Why I Withdrew from Competing at Trials get on in aberdeen regardless of all this and actually i was so mentally screwed basically by all of this that i decided to pull out and my parents came up to support me anyway so you know i was really hoping it would be such a positive week and my parents got to see me qualify for the commies but wasn't to be the ipc i've got a lot to answer for for that and yeah i pulled out really because i didn't want to race 100 breaststroke in a different category and then hit a qualifying time for the commonwealth games and then that would just get to me even more that actually i would have gone i would have definitely gone i'd hit the qualifying time i didn't want to know what time i could do although i knew deep down that i was on form and i felt quick and i tapered and i hadn't felt like that for a number of years so that's just such a bitter pill to swallow Can I Appeal Classification? in the time since being back from aberdeen there have been numerous people that are interested in my swimming career and you know supported me and you know wish me well along my journey they have asked well can you not appeal this decision and the answer is no you used to be able to appeal classification you can still appeal classification however when the results were published on that saturday i was reclassified i had up to an hour to appeal not the result because obviously i'm not happy with the result and i do not agree with the result the only way i could appeal was if the classifiers have actually undertaken the the procedure in the wrong way so if the british coach had sat in the room and watched the water test and watch what the classifiers were doing if he thought that they had done wrong not in terms of result just in terms of the way they do the test then i could appeal but we we couldn't find any grounds to actually appeal on i did suggest about or they've not seen me you know race or race simulate 100 breaststrokes they can actually see my fatigue which is what it's all about but there was no appeal and uh again like what's the point of having a an appeals procedure if you cannot appeal something so blatantly obvious it's just honestly they are rubbish they are rubbish that this this needs to change this whole system needs to change now i don't want to be Classification Stripped from Paralympian’s um too much i don't want to come across bitter i'm extremely disappointed with the classifiers and the classification system but i'm not the only one to say what i'm about to say and there's been quite a few people since that have sort of suggested this to me and the more i think about it actually it's it seems true so there are a lot of cerebral palsy swimmers that have been reclassified in the last few years that have moved up so it's not just me i know i'm not the only person affected but i do kind of feel like having been a you know to rio i am a paralympian i should be the one standing up and fighting for uh swimmers with cerebral palsy there have been a lot fall away from the sport because they've actually had their classification taken away from them like can you imagine having a disability and then turning around to you and saying you haven't got any class essentially they're telling you you're not disabled i i there's no way i could take that like i know i have a disability and i was still given a classification but some people aren't even that fortunate and that's where the system absolutely stinks there are multiple medal winning paralympians that have been to three or four games that have had their classifications stripped from them and clearly quite clearly without being horrible they are disabled they are physically impaired in the water and are trying to fight you know to no prevail how can that be there are so many people that have mentioned to me um another factor of classification and this is so The IPC’s sick and twisted dream scenario so true and again i do not want to be bitter but this is kind of how it is the international paralympic committee and you can quote me on this if you want the international paralympic committee only now want swimmers and athletes where the public can physically see they have a disability so for me if i wear trousers it is very hard for people to understand that i have a disability even when i have shorts on you know if i meet somebody different they don't realize we've got a disability they might see that i limp sometimes i don't realize i've got a disability and i'm ever so thankful for that because i know i could be severe and i do feel privileged that you know i'm not severe i'm able to do many things in life and have a good quality of life but can you imagine how sick and twisted that is that actually the ipc are now classifying people and it just seems to be if we can see your disability if the public can see your disability then that's fine we'll keep you in a classification those of you that have got a disability and it impairs you in the pool or athletics track or throwing a javelin or whatever you know we we're going to brush you aside you know we're going to make life difficult for you to compete on the elite stage the ipc want the elite stage to be full of people that actually look physically disabled and i find that so bitter twisted and sad i might be wrong on this but i'm not the only one saying this is not me saying this it is me and a lot of other people and for us all to say that kind of says something doesn't it regarding me standing up and fighting for swimmers with cerebral palsy this is something related uh to this topic and over the years i've found and seen many paralympians that have been to games been to world champs been to commonwealth games been to europeans our national champions have mbes all this sort of thing have slaughtered the ipc to other people they say they will go and retire and when they retire they they will explain you know how flawed the system is it doesn't happen where are them swimmers now that say oh i'm gonna tell show everybody what it's like there's a flawed system the international power paralympic committee promote cheats this is what i'm here for right so i refuse to be quiet on this and i will speak out and i will tell people how the ipc have got so many things wrong you've only got a look in the press on google and there's been previous stories come out in the past about how um different nations have you know kept quiet about their swimmer that's cheating the system but no coach wants to say anything because obviously they're getting results and this isn't because i've not managed to win a medal of major games or anything you know i'm very privileged that i i got myself to rio off my own back and i'm i am a paralympian so i'm privileged and i feel thankful for that so this is not me being bitter but like you do your research and you'll find some articles you know within the swimming world that uh you know they suggest that there's things going on that shouldn't be that swimming is not what it's cracked up to be in terms of paralympic swimming there are cheats out there and something needs to change so i will be outspoken if asked about this and um A Cheating Teammate at The Paralympic Games actually takes you back to a story where um there was a teammate in rio whenever they raced the rest of the team would sit and watch at the the aquatic center at the stadium and they would be picking up i won't name names they'd be picking up medals gold medals possibly even a record they're in the wrong category they've been reclassified they've dropped down a classification or two the rest of the world were had their eyes fixed on this this individual and you know everybody kind of knew that they're not in the correct class the bit that struck me was how the senior members of the british power swimming team didn't want to clap the swimmer after a race you know all sitting there thinking well this is false so what you know why are we clapping but of course all the staff all the staff think is wonderful you know it's another medal to add to the tally you know that can add to the funding for the next four years etcetera but the athletes were the ones that knew they sat there we all sat there and uh there were swimmers that didn't want to applaud the their teammate winning a false medal and i that really hit home i thought that was fantastic really because you know most of the swimmers you know in the right category doing the right thing giving a good account of themselves fair play you know absolute fair play it kind of actually feels like um Shoutout to the true Para swimmers you know i could have been a swimmer that cheated the system all the way through and gained medals by but what do you achieve by that in life is that really a life skill is that being somebody and an idol that you you want to stand up in front of other kids and be and teach you know unfortunate i'm a real one within power swimming i think people know that deep down and there's a lot of a lot of people the same where we've grown up together we've gone off we've done nationals training camps etcetera and we've we've just been us and we've tried as hard as we can to work in training to improve rather than improving by cheating the the power classification system so um yeah just a big shout out to the the real ones within the sport you know who you are and if you're watching this and you're not one of these people you also know who you are and uh congratulations on your mbe and medals the false medals that you've won you know who you are so wrapping Let me know your thoughts or questions in the comments this video up today i hope you have learned a lot in terms of what the world of power swimming is really like i hope you can understand my frustrations and please don't think that i'm being bitter i'm just being honest and real now that i'm in a situation and that others have found themselves in in the past but have not spoken up i'm not that person i will speak up for myself and for others i do want to kind of be a a leader in terms of cerebral palsy swimming and sport and i will not stay quiet on this if asked by anybody i will openly talk about what the international paralympic committee are like how the classification system has wronged so many people and created so many false champions and yeah hopefully my next videos will be slightly more positive than this but this is something that has been building up from in within so it's been building up from within and i just need to try and inform the world of swimming and for anybody else interested what para swimming is truly like i hope to see you in the next video if you did enjoy this video or have any comments and i'm happy to answer in the comments down below please give this a thumbs up and make sure you subscribe to my channel for more real insightful swim related content see you in the next video