Tokyo Paralympics 2021: Aussie athletes face anxious wait after hold up with classifications

It starts in two days but not every Aussie athlete has been cleared to compete at the Tokyo Paralympics, with the team holding its breath over the eligibility of two rugby players and two rowers.

TOPSHOT - Participants react under fireworks during the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on September 7, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / YASUYOSHI CHIBA

Four Australian athletes are facing an anxious wait before being cleared to compete at the Tokyo Paralympics because of a hold up in having their impairments officially classified.

Classifications, the process to assess the correct category each athlete competes in to ensure fairness, normally take place at international events in the lead-up to Paralympics, but the travel restrictions and event cancellations from the pandemic ruined those plans.

This has left the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) scrambling to assess more than 100 competitors before the Games start on Tuesday, with many athletes only just arriving in Japan.

The list includes four Australians, wheelchair rugby players Richard Voris and Shae Graham as well as rowers Simon Albury and Tom Birtwhistle, but officials are confident they will clear the backlog in time after getting straight to work.

“Classification is under way and we hope to have all the athletes classified ahead of their competition dates,” IPC spokesman Craig Spence said.

“The classification process is done by the rule book despite the pandemic. You’re put in a class and then you’re observed in competition to ensure you’re in the correct class.”

Tonga have had to pull put of the Paralympics this year.

Pacific Islands blame Australia for Paralympic exit

Australia’s quarantine rules have been blamed for the late withdrawal of four Pacific Island nations from the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Samoa, Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu are pulling out of the Paralympics - which open on Tuesday - claiming they can’t afford to pay the costs of quarantining in Australia. It is $3000 for each 14-day stint.

According to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the countries said they feared they would have to serve two separate periods in isolation – on the way there and on the way home – which was beyond their financial limits.

“We have a number of nations from the Pacific Islands that will be unable to travel,” IPC spokesman Craig Spence.

“The reason why is that they would need to travel from their country through Australia, where there are strict rules at the moment.

“They would have to quarantine at their expense for two weeks before flying here.

“They would then need to quarantine on the way back, so effectively they would need to pay for four weeks extra at a hotel.

“They are tiny National Paralympic Committees and they just do not have the resources to be able to accommodate that expense, so sadly they have been withdrawn.”

The claims that Pacific Island team members transiting through Australia would have to serve two weeks quarantine each time are at odds with the latest federal government advice.

According to Department of Health notices, international passengers transiting in Australia can remain at the airport for up to eight hours to board their connecting flight, or go to a nearby quarantine facility if the wait is between eight and 72 hours.

Only a handful of Australian team members are yet to arrive in Tokyo after a second charter plane touched down on Saturday morning, with everyone clearing customs before relocating to the Athletes’ Village, which will house about 4400 competitors.

The team has already been told it will be under even tighter biosecurity rules than the Olympic team after a surge in Covid cases in Tokyo, which has risen to more than 5000 a day.

Seven more Japanese prefectures have declared states of emergency while there are fresh calls for a national lockdown, prompting Paralympic officials to get tough on anyone breaching the protocols.

“The rules in the playbook is not an ethical and moral-based rule but it is a necessary measure to ensure safety,” Tokyo operations chief Nakamura Hidemasa said.

Originally published as Tokyo Paralympics 2021: Aussie athletes face anxious wait after hold up with classifications