Duo's gold appeal dismissed

Cairns with (l-r) Bakaev and Kovar after 100m success

An appeal by two British Paralympic swimmers over a reclassification dispute has failed.

The British Paralympic Association had raised the case of Kenny Cairns and James Anderson.

Cairns won a silver medal in the 200m freestyle in the S3 disability category, while James Anderson did likewise in the S2 category 50m backstroke.

Both gold medallists in those events were then reclassified to another disabled category of competition.

But Britain's claims for gold were dismissed because the winners had not been disqualified, simply reclassified.

Strong case

The Britons felt they had a strong case because a similar dispute in athletics resulted in British athletes being granted gold medal status.

Scot Cairns does not go home without a gold, however, after retaining the men's S3 100m freestyle title in a new Paralympic record.

Classifications are reviewed every two years and may change, particularly for competitors with degenerative conditions.

British swimming performance director Clive Durran has said the system, which was designed to give competitiors a fair chance, was one of the problems of disability competition.