Paralympic Champion Matt Wylie will retire from swimming after being classed up from S9 to S10, British Swimming announced Wednesday.
Wylie, only 21, was the S9 50 free gold medalist in Rio in 2016. He set his first British record in 2012, at the age of 15, and current holds three.
“The decision to retire has been something I have thought long and hard about over the last few weeks,” Wylie said, per British Swimming’s release. “The process of going through a change in classification has drained me of my passion for the sport that I held so close to me.
In late 2017, World Para Swimming announced that it would implement a new classification process, which took effect January 1, 2018 – all athletes are required to undergo a new classification test in 2018 (with the exception of a few special cases, which can be found here). This new process is meant to combat intentional misrepresentation (IM), which occurs when an athlete intentionally makes their impairment seem more severe in order to be put into a lower disability class.
Under the new system so far, an inordinate number of athletes, some more high-profile than others, have been reclassified – both up and down. You can read more about the chaos here.
In his new classification, Wylie said that he would be unlikely to make the top 8 at international events, let alone the podium. His sentiment echoes that of fellow Brit Ollie Hynd, who recently expressed that he was “heartbroken and confused” about getting reclassed from S8 to S9.
“Matt has made an enormous contribution to para-swimming. He is one of the most professional and dedicated athletes I’ve ever had the privilege of working with,” said Chris Furber, national performance director for British Para-Swimming. “Classification is a key part of all para-sport, and whilst we respect and support Matt’s decision he will certainly be missed by the athletes, coaches and staff on the team.
Wylie will now pursue a law degree, but hopes to mentor young swimmers in the sport.
“British Para Swimming and UK Sport have provided me with much needed support and guidance, helping me achieve my dream of representing my country at a Paralympic Games in Rio 2016. Representing my country at such a prestigious event will be a memory I keep close to my heart forever,” he said. “For me achieving this goal has been the greatest achievement in my life to date.”
Respect to him for retiring honestly instead of trying to appeal a definitely correct decision. I’m a swimmer myself and just from seeing how people swim and move during competitions, I can easily say that there are so many swimmers who have clearly been misclassified. From the top of my head Dubrov, Krypak, Hynd, Wylie, Tai, Kearney and Griswold are the biggest names that I think have gotten an unfair advantage.
Just. We must appealing court. Hynd is victim,Brenda is victim,Leon Bauer was victim. All clearly disability. Same time able body ukraina swimmers still competing.. I will next own rare diagnoos..
I want compete IWAS games and Pro Series level. I want made come back. I am 31. I am ready fight own classification. I correctly class is S9 or S10( left hand and lower back passive movement disability and large hypotonia,muscle power loss,x-foot and very weak lower legs.)
Good luck, if you can just get a national classification from your own country then that would be a start. The IPC might take a lot of work.
Have you taken a look at the Australians?
The one that seems to go under the radar – Disken, Leonhardt, Greenwood, and of course the comical queen of blatant IM – Patterson.
https://staging2.swimswam.com/paralympic-champ-preps-for-aussie-pan-pac-trials/
an article all about the comical queen of IM Patterson and her sponsor Funkita, comments are off.
“most of her left side is paralysed”????
Must be a different LP to the one we are all familiar with
And it just goes on and on and on and on. It’s incredibly easy to smash goals when your opponents are disabled and you are not. Add to the mix that you’re ‘lucky’ that the IPC cannot legally prove Intentional Misrepresentation. Very poor choice of sponsor / role model Funkita.
https://www.funkita.com/blog/athletes/353-golden-girl-lucky-smashing-goals.html
Just found out Ollie hynds did not do this on his own but with the full support of British Swimming even after his appeal in Copenhagen.
And they filled their legal challenge within 15 days of Copenhagen, you can only appeal via the NGB not as an individual.
Statement on behalf of Oliver Hynd MBE ( http://www.19eleven.co.uk/home/press/ ). “I would like to thank Chris Stoner QC and Hogan Lovells for their fantastic support throughout my appeal.” Clearly no talk about British Swimming ?
I contacted the barrister direct and his reply was only a NGB or IPC could make any appeal and it had to be done within 15 days of Classification.
Please take advocate and physiotherapyst into to CAS
Hynd,Wyle is not only victims with clear disability. Same time Denys Dubrov and Krypak can still compete. Other Estonian swimmer Topkin speak own teammate victim: I am an athlete from Estonia and I just participated in both the Sheffield and Berlin meets. After 6 years of swimming in S5, I was reclassified and put into S4. Before this year, I had been classified in 2013 and reviewed in 2015, both times I was firmly put into S5, where honestly it felt like everyone else simply had more limbs than me. In 2015, I even brought X-rays of my shoulders and my weak leg but the people in charge of the classifying process simply said that the x-rays are in the… Read more »
Tilk is a complicated one. If I read this correctly she does not have dwarfism but is short due to her other medical condition. The rules state she needs to qualify based on her other medical conditions and if her height is short enough they would lower her class down one. Specifically this is how McKenzie Coan is classified….she tests an 8 and they move down to a 7 because she is so short. Evidently Tilks joint problems are not enough to qualify her. All short people are not equal is what I have learned..some of them have super short arms it’s almost not fair and others have longer limbs and obviously they have a pretty big advantage.
Brenda diagnosis is stable genetic disorder what caused short strature,joints deformation and loss muscle power. Butterfly is terrible caused here diagnos. She must S8 or S9 but is NE in free/butterfly/backstroke. IPC must do more sicence work rare diagnosis eligble. I born with also genetic disorder Larsen Syndrome. This caused 15degrees hand contracture,hypermobility,low mucle done very severe(hardest than people with down syndrome) and very severe scoliosis what ficxed lower back. Underwater kick Butterfly and starts is limited.
Rare joints genetic disorder is functional and stable psysical disability but IPC not eligble and discrimation. Classifiers must do also NATO tests and use high technology and sience. My and Brenda disability is very clear and clear S9 or S10.
Also severe artrit must be eligble what causing mobility issues and contractures.
Please not retire. Please go to CAS(court arbitration of sport). We must fight own rights. IPC swimming including unproffesional humans. IPC swimming is failed. Swimmer from Estonia..
Any swimmer who signs the IPC classification forms is barred from seeking any form of appeal outside the IPC it’s self.
So CAS is a no go if you want to swim
There is no way you could expect him to keep going as a 10. Dubrov is still allowed to compete and that really destroys the class. The 10 class itself is somewhat of a joke with swimmers with almost imperceptible ailments competing. There were two red flags to me in this swimmers case, one is that he was a national record holder at 15 which would indicate he was probably in too low a class. Reminds me of Madisson Elliott and Tiffany Kane both setting records as young teens and later being moved up. The second is the combination of two medical conditions to make him appear disabled….leg tumors which seems pretty legit but then they add CP on top… Read more »
The athlete had CP from birth and this was diagnosed at the age of 18 months. The tumour in the leg caused hip mobility issues. The CP was the recognised medical condition in his initial classification, with the hip mobility only being supplemental to this.
With regards to national record, these records were set in vactant national records (200m fly, 800m free etc) not in Paralympic events. I believe he did not break any of these records till he was 17 or 18.
okay i appreciate the update. I am having difficulty with this one. His Rio final in the 50 was very competitive so I don’t see why they felt the need to move him up. He was maybe still a little young but he wasnt really podium material in any other event. Kind of puzzling. What do the GB swimmers think of Griswold staying an 8 and Evan Austin staying a 7? Seems like a different standard or some kind of bias is being applied the the GB swimmers. One other comment I have is that when an NGB gets behind a swimmer with this kind of resources like they are doing with Hynd, it is a huge conflict of interest… Read more »
Wouldn’t you say they would need to get behind ALL swimmers who were changed in classification not just S8s?
Really hope nobody feels sorry for Matthew Whylie and Ollie Hynd, these are the type of people who are committing IM (along with a lot of GB) and this new system has finally brought about a slight bit of justice (even if it still has a long way to go)
Salt
What type of evidence is there that supports your claim that Hynd and Wylie are the ‘type’ of people who are committing IM? Videos of them cheating during classification? Fluctuating race times? Something else? We know the IPC discount fluctuating race times and videos of athletes deliberately cheating during classification, using limbs they previously claimed they couldn’t and so on. It’s very unclear what the IPC actually do consider as evidence of IM. Presumably they have your evidence. Just curious.
When have they discounted fluctuating race times? Do they allow video in classification?
Yes, classification can be video’d – probably should be as standard anyway & prior to Rio when the IPC claim to have investigated 80 or so cases of alleged IM “A standalone fluctuating race time does not mean that an athlete is intentionally misrepresenting skills or abilities, nor does it mean an athlete is in the wrong sport class” “To date, the only credible evidence that has been uncovered in the past year concerns fluctuating race times. Consequently, and following our careful review, no cases of intentional misrepresentation have been initiated on the basis of athlete performances during 2015 competitions.”
Sorry I missed what happened in 2015.
Whatever happened to just wanting to be the best you can and the only person you have to compete against is yourself.