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Paralympics: The Unfair Games?

Former Paralympic athlete Richie Powell investigates the sport’s classification system, which is accused of being flawed, easily manipulated and lacking credibility.

With the Tokyo Paralympic Games approaching, Panorama investigates the sport’s classification system. Designed to make competition between athletes with different disabilities fair, it is accused of being flawed, easily manipulated and lacking credibility. Former Paralympic athlete and coach Richie Powell says para-sport saved his life after he was injured in a motor cycle accident. But he retired as a wheelchair racer, disillusioned with a classification system that he says pitted athletes with different abilities against each other. In this film, he meets other former athletes, coaches and classifiers who share their experiences of Paralympic competition, hearing that Britain, the home of the Paralympic movement, should be the country that leads change.

59 minutes

Last on

Wed 16 Jun 2021 00:30

Credits

Role Contributor
Reporter Richie Powell
Director Duncan Staff
Producer Duncan Staff
Producer Helen Lancaster
Executive Producer Lucie Kon
Editor Karen Wightman

Broadcasts

  • Wed 9 Jun 2021 19:30
  • Wed 9 Jun 2021 20:00
  • Wed 9 Jun 2021 22:45
  • Wed 16 Jun 2021 00:30

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