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Inside The Paralympics Archive

Documentaries

Sport: Disability Sport: Paralympics

A series of programmes focusing on the Paralympic Games.

A series of programmes focusing on the Paralympic Games. We look at how disability is viewed in the Ukraine, how carbon fiber running blades are produced, the scandal surrounding athletes with learning difficulties, how cheaters will be caught and one of the toughest sports in the world – wheelchair rugby.

(Image: The Paralympic logo. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Inside The Paralympics

Inside The Paralympics Archive: Cheating In The Paralympics

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Cheating In The Paralympics

BBC World Service - Inside The Paralympics Archive, Cheating In The Paralympics

Matt McGrath investigates how cheating will be caught in the Paralympic Games.

BBC World Service Science Correspondent Matt McGrath investigates how cheating will be caught and finds out how concerned officials are about the potential for cheating.

Measures to stop drugs cheats in the Paralympics are already in place but as BBC World Service Science Correspondent Matt McGrath reports, the rule book is a long one.

For athletes with physical or intellectual disabilities, medication might be part of their daily routine. 

Sports men and women with epilepsy for example, take drugs daily to maintain their health. 

Such sanctioned medicine mean the drug-testing policies of the World Anti Doping Control (WADO) have to be specially adapted, so that those using performance enhancing drugs are still caught by the rigorous testing, while those who need medication for genuine ailments and conditions, are protected.  

And there are other ways to cheat in the Paralympics. 

It's possible for disabled competitors to control physiology in ways that cannot be used by able bodied athletes. 

Matt investigates how cheating will be caught and finds out how concerned officials are about the potential for cheating.

(Image: A urine sample being tested for drugs at the Drug Control Centre at King's College London. Credit: Press Association)

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