A mum with an autistic son has been left heartbroken after claiming her son was disqualified from a swimming final because he was “swimming too fast”.
Nine-year-old Rory Logan competed in the Special Olympics regional finals in Bangor, North Wales, winning the 50 metres in a time of 53.15 seconds.
The time was a personal best for the Irish boy and significantly improved on his previous qualifying time of 1 minute 3 seconds.
Rory was confused as to why he didn’t get the gold medal after winning the race. Photo: Belfast Live/Yahoo US
However, when the medal ceremony came around, Rory received a participation ribbon instead of the gold medal he had been hoping for.
His mother, Bryony Logan, said officials told her her son didn’t get a medal because he was too fast in the race.
“Rory came up to me and said: ‘Mum, I haven’t done anything wrong, I won fair and square, what did I do?’ I felt really disappointed for him,” Logan told Belfast Live.
“I spoke to the judges and they basically said I was disqualified because I swam too fast. No one can accept this decision.”
“Apparently, if you want to swim slower in the prelims to get to the lower division finals, you can’t swim more than 15 percent faster than the time you swam in the prelims.
“Rory swam 15.8 percent faster than he qualified, but can someone please explain to me how a nine-year-old can do that and calculate that?”
Rory came first in the 50m race but was disqualified for being too fast. Photo: Belfast Live/Yahoo US
Rory Logan won the 50m sprint at the Special Olympics Regional Finals in 53.15 seconds. Photo: Yahoo US
Despite wanting his son to withdraw from the rest of the competition, Rory continued and won gold medals in the relay and the 25m dash.
Logan saw how upset his son was and considered removing him from the rest of the finals.
But she didn’t give up and her son competed in two more finals, winning gold medals in the relay and the 25-meter dash.
“Luckily winning other medals has eased the shock for him but even though he swam well he is still shaken and feels he did something wrong,” Logan said.
Rory’s personal best time will no longer count towards All-Ireland qualification.