Deaf-blind American swimmer Becca Meyers mentioned on Tuesday she had withdrawn from the Tokyo Paralympics after being advised by the USA Olympic & Paralympic Committee that she couldn’t carry a private care assistant (PCA) to Japan.
Meyers, whose mom has served as her private care assistant in any respect worldwide meets since 2017, mentioned the USOPC advised her she didn’t want a PCA in Japan as there could be one out there to help her and 33 different Paralympic swimmers.
“I’ve needed to make the gut-wrenching choice to withdraw from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics,” Meyers, a six-time Paralympics medallist, wrote on Twitter. “I am offended, I am dissatisfied, however most of all, I am unhappy to not be representing my nation.”
Heartbroken to share that I’m withdrawing from the Tokyo Paralympic Video games. The USOPC has repeatedly denied my cheap and important lodging due to my incapacity, leaving me no alternative. Full assertion under: <a href=”https://t.co/p9tKsbPip2″>pic.twitter.com/p9tKsbPip2</a>
—@becca_meyers
The USOPC didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Meyers, who was born with Usher syndrome, a situation that impacts each imaginative and prescient and listening to, mentioned the USOPC accredited her having a PCA at previous worldwide occasions however that there have been new security measures in place due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“With COVID, there are new security measures and limits on non-essential workers in place, rightfully so, however a trusted PCA is important for me to compete,” Meyers wrote.
“So, in 2021, why as a disabled individual am I nonetheless preventing for my rights?
“I am talking up for future generations of Paralympic athletes in hope that they by no means must expertise the ache I have been by. Sufficient is sufficient.”
Meyers, who took up swimming in 2000, made her Paralympics debut at London 2012, claiming one silver and a bronze. In 2016, she sealed her first three Paralympic titles, in addition to a silver medal, setting two world data alongside the way in which.
