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The cheats who won gold and left a devastating legacy for learning disability sport

The cheats who won gold and left a devastating legacy for learning disability sport.

British swimmer Dan Pepper says he was destroyed by the ban on intellectual impairment sports at the Paralympics – it ruined his career. The ban was imposed after Spain won basketball gold at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics with a squad of 12 in which - it later emerged - only two players were genuinely disabled. In The Fake Paralympians, Dan sets out to find the truth about what happened and its devastating impact on learning disability sport.

Image credit: EPA

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The Fake Paralympians: 6. Fallout

21/09/2021 GMT

6. Fallout

BBC World Service - The Fake Paralympians, 6. Fallout

Why are learning disability athletes still feeling the impact of cheating 21 years on?

Learning disability athletes are back at the Paralympics, but why - 21 years later - are they still feeling the impact of the cheating?

After years in the wilderness, athletes with a learning disability are back at the London 2012 Paralympics - and Dan is among them. There are new tests designed to stop cheating. Do they work? And why, 21 years on from the basketball scandal, are there still fewer medals for intellectual impairment athletes than there were at Sydney 2000?

Plus Dan catches up one last time with Ray, the genuinely disabled captain of the infamous Spanish basketball team. The scandal has taken a big toll on his life.

Presenter: Dan Pepper
Series Producer: Simon Maybin
Editor: Emma Rippon

(Photo credit: EPA)

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