Jessica Lengthy, Anastasia Pagonis, Gia Pergolini, and Julia Gaffney have been barred from the 2024 Paralympic closing ceremony after being admonished for social media habits earlier within the Video games.
“We will affirm that sanctions have been imposed on a number of athletes because of unacceptable habits,” a USPOPC spokesperson mentioned in a assertion to the Washington Publish. “It is very important uphold the requirements anticipated of Workforce USA athletes, and we stay dedicated to addressing any actions that undermine our values.”
These disciplinary actions come after Erin Popovich, the Director of U.S. Paralympic swimming, despatched an electronic mail addressing the social media posts focusing on different members of the U.S. Paralympic staff. “I wish to specific my deep disappointment relating to the latest conduct noticed on social media, which blatantly disregards the message we beforehand communicated because the Workforce USA delegation phrases,” Popovich wrote earlier than including the athletes had been reported to the governing board and that “a disciplinary motion will comply with shortly.”
Whereas neither the USOPC spokesperson nor Popovich detailed the habits in query, it’s probably associated to social media posts the place the 4 swimmers appeared to query the incapacity classification of their teammate Christie Raleigh Crossley, who has a neurological situation that has been classed as S9. Crossley has been public about coping with bullying earlier than the Video games, together with accusations that she is faking her incapacity.
The 37-year-old Crossley earned 5 medals at their Paralympic debut in Paris, together with gold within the 100 backstroke S9 and 100 butterfly S9. She is assessed as an S9 swimmer however raced within the 50 freestyle S10 as there was no S9-only occasion and received silver. This was one among many cases of swimmers racing up a classification and Crossley was not the one swimmer racing as much as medal.
In prelims of the 50 freestyle, Crossley set a world document—her first—in her classification. On a social media publish by World Para Swimming celebrating the achievement, Spanish S9 swimmer Sarai Gascon Moreno commented “S9? It’s a joke?”
Lengthy replied to Moreno, writing “I stand with you!”
Lengthy, one of the embellished Paralympians in historical past, didn’t deny responding to Gascon Moreno when requested about it in Paris. “For me, I’ve seen the Paralympic motion for thus lengthy, I feel we now have intentional misrepresentation [rules] for a cause. And I feel we’re not utilizing it. I feel we actually ought to, proper?” She continued, “I wish to see Paralympics with integrity. I wish to see it higher. And that’s what I’ll at all times stand for.”
These feedback are in step with what Lengthy informed The Washington Publish in an article that appeared in the beginning of the Video games. “I’m simply actually annoyed as a result of we’re so afraid to name individuals out virtually in that disabled area, the place it’s like ‘no, you may’t ask me these kinds of questions.’ However I feel we have to take it up a notch.”
In a separate, now deleted publish about Raleigh Crossley, Gaffney wrote “Not a optimistic influence. Intentional misrepresentation is rarely cute.” Pagonis replied “this” with a hands-raising emoji and Pergolini echoed the sentiment, commenting “nicely mentioned.”
Raleigh Crossley responded to the reinvigorated feedback about their incapacity and classification by telling The Washington Publish, “I went from having fun with a world document to being completely devastated that the complete world appears to assume I used to be a cheater and that I used to be by some means faking the opening in my mind and the cyst in my spinal wire. To be informed on-line by all of those bullies that I’m not by some means disabled as I seem, simply because I can swim quicker than them, it’s fairly devastating.”
The closing ceremony ban might not be the top of the self-discipline for the 4 swimmers. The Washington Publish studies they might additionally face suspensions—barring them from competing for the nationwide staff—and a lack of stipends.
