Swimming was one of the first sports to see the re-inclusion and new testing of S14 athletes when they were permitted to compete at the IPC Swimming European Championships. Seven athletes won 12 medals in Reykjavik and throughout the competition expressed their desire for the decision to go their way.

The decision means that athletes with intellectual disabilities will now be allowed to compete at IPC run competitions which includes the Paralympic Games and athletes will undergo rigorous tests which are to be called ‘sports intelligence’ tests.

On the decision British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes commented: “Everyone at British Swimming is very pleased that the decision has been made to include S14 athletes in the Paralympic Games. British Swimming (and the ASA, as the national governing body for swimming in England) welcomes a fair and transparent classification system across all sport-specific classification groups including intellectual disability.

“British Swimming provided technical support to S14 athletes as this issue has been under discussion and has supported both IPC and INAS-FID to accelerate the classification process for S14 swimmers. We will now refocus our efforts on ensuring that all our S14 athletes are fully prepared for London.”