INAS-FID
Suspended
from Membership
 The International Sports Federation for Athletes with an Intellectual
Disability (INAS-FID) will continue to be suspended from membership in the International
Paralympic Committee (IPC). This decision was taken by the IPC Executive Committee on
March 9, 2001, re-endorsing the preliminary decision taken by the IPC Management Committee
on January 29.
An IPC Investigation Commission found that the process of assessment and certification
of athletes with an intellectual disability for the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games had not
been properly carried out. Neither had the process been properly supervised and audited
both on a national and international level. The IPC holds INAS-FID responsible and
accountable for these violations.
More than two-thirds of the registration forms for athletes with an intellectual
disability at the Sydney Paralympic Games were considered to be invalid by the
Investigation Commission. However, this result does not imply that eligibility of the
respective athletes is automatically questioned.
"This is a dramatic and global problem, which cannot be reduced to only one
national team or to one specific sport," said Dr. Donald Royer, member of the IPC
Investigation Commission.
Athletes with an intellectual disability will have the opportunity to obtain
provisional certification of their eligibility in order to be able to participate in IPC
events until a new eligibility process is in place and has been approved by the IPC. All
competitions sanctioned by the IPC involving athletes with an intellectual disability can
thus continue to be planned and or-ganized, including the VIII Paralympic Winter Games in
Salt Lake City in March 2002.
"The participation of ineligible athletes at the Paralympic Games must
never happen again," said IPC President Dr. Robert Steadward. "The IPC Executive
Committee asks the INAS-FID membership to review their eligibility criteria and
processes." In addition, the IPC member nations are requested to re-examine the
status of their athletes, who participated at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, and
provide the IPC with complete and correct information.
The IPC Investigation Commission was established in December 2000, when it became
evident that several Spanish athletes had competed in events for athletes with an
intellectual disability at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, without being eligible.
 
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