Paralympics: Medals bungle takes another twist

Nobody likes playing the bad guy, including Paralympic officials.

That was the only logical conclusion following the decision to restore medals to athletes who had been stripped of glory following a computer error.

In the latest twist to the farcical situation surrounding Friday's women's F35/36 discus competition, it was decided that both the original and corrected winners would receive gold medals.

Same goes for the bronze with Australia's Katherine Proudfoot and fourth-placed Bao Jiongyu of China each collecting a medal.

If that was not all confusing enough, only the corrected results will be reflected on the medal table.

International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence said the decision was made "in the spirit of fair play'' as the athletes were competing against the scoreboard.

After originally handing out the medals on Friday, the ceremony for the revised winners was supposed to be held on Saturday before being postponed until Sunday.

In combined class events, a mathematical formula is used to determine final positions on points rather than distance.

Unfortunately, an out of date version was used during Friday's event and Australia launched a protest that resulted in Proudfoot being elevated from fifth to third place.

- AAP