Cheating In Basketball, To Get Gold In Match: When a group of wheelchair basketball cheats cheated their way to gold in Sydney 2000, only one man was held legally responsible.
But that man now claims he was unaware of the scheme. For the first time since his 2013 conviction, he says the accusations against him were baseless “absurd and without foundation.
Cheating In Basketball, To Get Gold In Match
Worst Cheating Case Ever
Some have dubbed it the worst case of sporting cheating ever. During the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, only two members of Spain’s intellectual disability basketball team were found to have a disability.
As a result of the scandal, athletes with intellectual disabilities were barred from competing in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Paralympics, effectively ending the careers of thousands of athletes around the world.
Devising And Executing
Fernando Martn Vicente, the former president of the Spanish Sports Federation for People with Intellectual Disability (Feddi) and vice-president of the Spanish Paralympic Committee.
He is find guilty by a Spanish court of “devising and executing” the scheme to recruit talented young non-disabled basketball players.
Charges against 18 other defendants, including the 10 fictitious Paralympians, were dropped after he accepted responsibility and paid a fine of 5,400 euros ($4,600).
Fernando Martn Vicente has written a three-page letter to the BBC denying any involvement in the scandal in his first public statement since court proceedings began in 2013.
Some Question In Interviews
“What was the procedure? Who was it that pushed them to do it? Who among the medical community agreed to take part in this? Sincerely, he is not sure what to say.
“I took the heat because I was Feddi’s president,” he says. “But my record in pioneering learning disability sport after my daughter diagnoses as a baby shows how absurd and unfound the accusations against me are.”
Most people agree that intellectually disable athletes’ events were introduce in Atlanta 1996 and expanded in Sydney 2000 thanks to Fernando Martn Vicente.
Fernando Martn Vicente has attempt for shifting the blame away from himself, but that attempt is reject by the secretary general of the Spanish Paralympic Committee, Miguel Sagarra.
He dismisses the idea as “impossible.”. Fernando Martn’s close friends and associates say it’s impossible that such a significant event occurred without his knowledge.
Hence he goes on to say: “The allegations were based on solid evidence. According to the judge’s final statement, everything was done on Fernando Martn’s orders and instructions.”
Facts
The fact that Fernando Martn Vicente was a champion in intellectual disability sport. According to him, is irrelevant to the question of his guilt or innocence.
Hence the team’s captain, Ramón Torres, one of the two players on the basketball team with a real intellectual disability, was one of the most direct victims of the cheating scandal.
He claims to have voice his concerns about the newcomers to the team at the time, but reassure that everything was alright.
When ask about Fernando Martn’s knowledge of the case, Torres responds, “He can’t do that.”
“Of course he is well-verse in the matter. I mistakenly assume he is much stronger individual.
“He erred in some way. I’d be thrilled if he apologised, and said, “I am sorry.””
Missed Chances
Therefore Fernando Martn Vicente’s denial is “just rubbing more salt in the wounds. According to Dan Pepper, host of The Fake Paralympians series.
A swimmer who miss his best chance at a Paralympic medal. Due to the ban on intellectually disable athletes in 2004 and 2008.
His claim that it had nothing to do with him is “completely bonkers,” because “he’s never spoken about this.”
Another Question
Is it possible that Fernando Martn Vicente commit fraud, as the court determine?
The goal was to increase awareness about intellectual disability sports in Spain. To solidify his position as a leader in the field.
As Sagarra puts it, “He did everything he could to be the man. Who put sports for people with intellectual disabilities on the top. Believing no one was going to catch on to the extent of his fraud.
Also Read:
