Australian Paralympic runner Jaryd Clifford has spoken out after being stripped of his bronze medal for breaking a pretty unknown rule.
On Saturday (August 31), Clifford competed in the men's T13 5,000m final for vision-impaired athletes in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
However, moments before the 25-year-old crossed the finish line - seemingly in third place and bagging a bronze medal - he ended up breaking a rule which would ultimately see him disqualified.
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Clifford ran the event in a time of 16:12:45 which put him in third place. Alas, it was a slip up between the runner and one of his guides running beside him, which meant he ended up being disqualified.
During the race, Clifford was tethered with guides Matt Clarke and Tim Logan - Logan for the first 2,000m and Clarke for the final 3,000, Paralympics Australia explains. However, footage of the race revealed moments before crossing the finish line, Clifford wasn't tethered correctly to Clarke.
Australian Olympic long jumper David Culbert explained to Nine News: "You've got to hold the tether all the way through to the line, and it's pretty clear it's not in the hands of both athletes. In fact, it looks like Jaryd's let it go just before the line there."
Officials from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) subsequently ruled the athlete was in breach of the rules and was disqualified, meaning Clifford would no longer be receiving a bronze medal.
And the athlete - who won two silver medals and bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics - has since spoken out about the error.
He said, as quoted by Nine News: "When I have a guide it means I can focus on the running. I don't have to worry about the tactics, [how many] laps to go, which people are around me. It means when I make a hard move for home I can go all out and not worry about saving some visual energy for that last lap to make sure I can just get around.
"[...] Guiding for me is not a need; it's a want. The pros usually outweigh the cons. Two guides mean they should be fresher.
"Today on the last lap was probably a day where the guiding was a con. But these boys are my best mates."
Australian athletics team management added: "Jaryd had a great preparation after several years of injury frustration. He was in really good shape, but there is always risks when you bring in other factors to middle-distance running, such as guides.
"Jaryd needs guides to run these distances competitively, but it creates more margin for error and unfortunately today was a realisation of that. He has the 1500m on his program and we know he will be putting all the energy and disappointment into that performance."
Clifford added, while it was 'pretty shattering' to be disqualified from the men's T13 5,000m final, 'whatever happens' still feels like it's his 'fourth Paralympics medal'.
He resolved: "I'm still chasing a gold. I'm hoping I can shrug it off as quick as I can before Tuesday."
Topics: Australia, Olympics, Paralympics, Sport
Poppy Bilderbeck