Alice Tai disability ‘ban’ debacle resolved by national swimming chiefs

SWIM ENGLAND has quickly clarified its competition rules after New Milton Paralympian Alice Tai was wrongly banned from competing in a county championships because she is disabled.

Nineteen-year-old Alice, who won relay gold in the women’s 4x100m medley at Rio 2016, sailed through heats of the Middlesex Youth County Championships against able-bodied swimmers.

She was then told the rules barred her from taking her place in the finals of the 50m and 100m backstroke.

Swim England have since said that Middlesex’s interpretation of the governing bodies rules was wrong and para-athletes can swim in able-bodied finals.

Alice, who has a club foot, is the current world record holder for the 100m backstroke in her disabled classification of S8 and is the current European champion for the same event.

Her time of 1:09.22 in the 100m heat placed her as the fourth fastest swimmer across all age groups at the Middlesex County Championships. Her time would have put her in the running for a medal.

Martin Lees, Swim England’s para-swimming development manager, said: “We are aware of the situation at the recent 2019 Middlesex Youth County Championships and are in contact with the local organisers and the athlete concerned.

"Unfortunately, this situation arose due to the way the conditions of the event had been communicated. It was in no way intended to offend anyone.

“As the national governing body for swimming, we are committed to ensuring all swimmers are able to take part in every level of competition.

"We will be encouraging organisers of events across the country to review their event conditions as a matter of urgency to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”