A vision-impaired Paralympics runner from Australia lost his bronze medal after he let go of the tether attaching him to his seeing-eye guide as he crossed the finish line, authorities ruled.
Distance runner Jaryd Clifford was finishing the T13 5000m for vision-impaired athletes on Saturday when International Paralympic Committee (IPC) officials ruled he had dropped the tether linking him to guide Matt Clarke just before he crossed the finish line, People reported.
Clifford erred in releasing the tether binding him to Clarke at that “crucial moment” and breached IPC rules, the Australian athletics team management said in a statement.
“Jaryd needs guides to run these distances competitively, but it creates more margin for error and unfortunately today was a realization of that,” the Australian athletics team management said. “He has the 1500m on his program (Tuesday) and we know he will be putting all the energy and disappointment into that performance.”
His first guide was Tim Logan, to whom he was tethered for the first 2,000 meters of the race. Then Clarke replaced him for the last 3,000 meters so Clifford could maintain his pace. He was the only runner in that race using a guide.
Davul Culbert, a commentator for Australia’s Channel Nine and an Olympian in his own right, noted the rule breach as soon as it happened.
“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,” Culbert commented, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. “In fact, it looks like Jaryd’s let it go just before the line there.”
The gold medal went to Yassine Ouhdadi El Ataby of Spain, and the silver to Aleksandr Kostin of Russia, who is competing under the Neutral Paralympic Athletes association, according to People.
Clifford called the disqualification “pretty shattering” but took it in stride, vowing to go for gold at his next event Tuesday.
“I’m absolutely gutted that we made such a critical mistake today,” he wrote on X after the final ruling. “Remaining tethered is a fundamental rule of guiding, and I’m shattered that I lost my mind in those final meters. I’ve got so much more to give. I promise to bring everything for the 1500m on Tuesday.”