Paralympic Games: Amputee swimmer wrongly disqualified over little-known rule as chaos descends on Paris pool

A Paralympic Games swimmer was wrongly disqualified on Sunday before being reinstated as confusion reigned over the pool in Paris.

Iraq-born Australian star Ahmed Kelly, who is missing both arms below the elbow and both legs completely, was disqualified by officials following his heat in the men’s 150m medley SM3.

Officials said Kelly had performed the butterfly instead of the freestyle in the final leg of the race.

Swimming Australia immediately launched an appeal against the decision, before confirming that their swimmer had been reinstated and would compete in the final.

Clarifying the situation, fellow Aussie swimmer Annabelle Williams explained that officials had overlooked a little-known rule in the medley. 

‘Now the good lawyer in me went to the rules and the definition of freestyle is that you can perform whatever you want, as long as it’s not backstroke or breaststroke,’ she said on Nine’s broadcast.

‘You can do whatever strokes you like; freestyle or double-arm butterfly. Ahmed had performed [a] double-arm butterfly, and so I can’t understand why that rule seems to have been in breach.

The swimmer was deemed to have performed a butterfly stroke during his freestyle leg

But officials were informed that you can perform butterfly during the freestyle

‘And secondly, swimming strokes in the incorrect order. He definitely didn’t do that. There’s video footage of him swimming the first lap on his back, the second lap doing breaststroke, and the third lap the double-arm butterfly, which is absolutely permissible when you’re swimming freestyle.’

Kelly will be joined by Aussie teammate Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson in the final. 

Patterson, who gets around on a scooter, has diastrophic dysplasia, meaning he is very short in stature, has short limbs and has restricted mobility due to joint problems.