Paralympic champion Rehm slams IOC after Olympic snub

Three-time Paralympic champion Markus Rehm has sharply criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after again being banned from competing at the Olympics.

The German long jumper failed in his bid to become the second athlete with a carbon fibre prosthesis to take part in an Olympics after South African Oscar Pistorius in 2012.

His bid for Rio in 2016 was blocked amid a debate over whether his prosthesis gave him an advantage on the jump.

Five years later and the 32-year-old met the qualification standard for the Tokyo Olympics.

The IOC passed his case to World Athletics and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled against his Olympic inclusion.

This was in spite of Rehm being named in the Germany delegation.

“There was a missed opportunity to send out a message of inclusion,” Rehm told dpa ahead of the Paralympics in Tokyo beginning next Tuesday.

Rehm, nicknamed “Blade Jumper”, lamented what he sees as double standards from the IOC.

“They exploit the beautiful image that Paralympic athletes give them,” he said.

“But when it comes to the reality of that image, it seems like too much of a good thing. Then it’s over with inclusion. Especially if the athlete who could add that beautiful image is just as good as the Olympic athletes.

Gold at the Tokyo Olympics went to Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou with a jump of 8.41 metres.

Rehm had jumped 8.62 m in his para world record in June.