FIVE-TIME Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft has questioned the call for extensive and repeated “humiliating” tests that are used to determine which categories para-athletes can compete in.
The 25-year-old from Halifax currently holds the T34 100 metres, 400m and 800m world and Paralympic titles and – following Wednesday’s decision for the system to be revised – will have to get reclassified alongside her fellow athletes.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’ve had all the scans... MRI scans, CAT scans. I think my worst one was I had to have electrodes attached to my spine and then electric shocks sent up and down my legs to see which nerves worked – that pain was sickening.
“People think you just put your doctors’ notes on the table and someone goes ‘you’re a T whatever you are’ but no.
“You’re going through all these things literally to show that you are not standing there pretending to be disabled. It’s humiliating.”
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