Originally a comment by Acolyte of Sagan on The most important word.

Two incidents from last week at the Paralympics.

Partially-sighted Australian runner, Jaryd Clifford, accidentally let go of the tether linking him to his guide 4998 metres into the 5000 metres final. He was the only runner in that race to use guides, i.e. the ‘most’ blind runner in the field, finished in third place but was disqualified from recieving the bronze. Essentially, letting go of the tether at any point in the race, whether intentionally or not, suggests that the guide isn’t really needed and therefore the runner is gaining an unfair advantage. Clifford was disqualified because he broke the rules, and cheats don’t deserve medals, right?

Polish athlete, Roza Kozakowska, who competes in the class for the most severely disabled in her category, made a world record hammer throw, tearing her shoulder so severely in doing so that she had to withdraw from further attempts. Still, it was a gold-winning throw…until she was disqualified because the neck support pillow on her wheelchair was slightly above regulation size. Granted, it was a matter of just a few millimeters, but it gave her neck a tiny amount of extra support that her similarly-disabled rivals didn’t have. Apparently, when you lack the ability to properly coordinate your muscles over your entire body, a couple of millimeters extra support makes a difference. Kozakowska was disqualified for breaking the rules, and cheats don’t deserve medals, right?

And yet the very people who disqualified two genuine competitors from medal-winning positions for very minor and almost certainly inadvertent breaches of the regulations are cheering on a man who is openly, nay, proudly cheating his way through the competition. It’s utterly fucking insane.