By Alyssa Nehring–Most students spend their summers working, taking classes, or enjoying a much-needed break from school, not many spend their time off training harder then they ever have before. Savannah Larson did just that.
Larson trained to compete in the Paralympic trails during the beginning on July.
Larson competed in the 50 yard free-style, 100 yard free-style, 400-yard freestyle, and 100-yard butterfly. She finished first in the 100-yard butterfly in her classification, S10.
Since she got first, you may think, she’d be on the Road to Rio. However, qualifying for the Paralympics is much different than qualifying for the Olympics in swimming. In the United States the top two finishers in each event automatically went to the Summer Olympic Games in Rio.
That was not the case for the paralympic athletes. There are time cuts that the swimmer must swim at trials in order to make it to the Paralympics. The various time cuts are determined by the swimmerss classifications.
Classifications are determined by different levels of disability. Larson explained that there are 13 different classifications, S1 through S13. Physical disabilities are S1 through S10, S1 being the most sever disability and S10 being the least severe. S11 and S13 are sight impairment and S12 is extreme ADHD.
In the United States the classification process is done by professionals with medical backgrounds, for example doctors and athletic trainers. However, on the international level, the professionals putting people into classifications have no medical background.
According to Larson this makes the classification process very unfair. “I was and should be a S8. Many coaches and trainers have told me I should be an S8. But I was classified as an S10.”
Larson talked about how other Paralympic swimmers were also upset with the classification and qualifying process. Larson mentioned another swimmer who went through the same classification issues and is thinking about getting out of the Paralympics all together. The link to his story is here.
Larson look towards a hopeful future. She said, “Of course Tokyo is on my mind, but my goal is to make a difference and make the classification process fair for everyone.”
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