Nine-Year-Old Boy Disqualified From Competition For Swimming “Too Fast”

A nine-year-old boy who has autism was disqualified from a swimming final because he “swam too fast”.

Rory Logan was competing in the Special Olympics regional finals in Bangor, North Wales, when he won the 50m race in just 53.15 seconds, which was his personal best after he beat his own previous heat time of one minute and three seconds.

However, at the time of the awarding, Rory was only given a ribbon for participating instead of the gold medal he was expecting.

His mother, Briony Logan, was left heartbroken as officials told her that her son didn’t get a medal because he was “too fast” for the race. “Rory came to me and said: ‘Mum I didn’t do anything wrong, I won fair and square, what did I do?’. I was absolutely gutted for him,” Ms Logan told Belfast Live.

Ms Logan said that she then spoke to the officials who explained their decision.

“Apparently you can’t be more than 15 per cent faster than the time you swam in your heats just in case you are trying to swim slower in your heat to be placed in a lower division’s final.

“Rory swam 15.8 per cent faster than his heat but someone please explain to me how a nine-year-old child would think of doing that or being that calculating,” she said.

She said that her son got upset and she thought of withdrawing him for the rest of the competition. Thankfully, she didn’t and her son continued to compete in two further finals and won gold for the relay and 25m races. “Thankfully winning the other medals softened the blow for him but he’s still upset and feels he has done something wrong even though he swam well,” Ms Logan said.

Rory’s personal best time will no longer count in his bid for a place at the All Ireland’s.

Source: Au.news.yahoo.com