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Paralympic medallist deemed 'too tall' for Olympic competition

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Paralympic medallist deemed 'too tall' for Olympic competition

US athlete Blake Leeper, a double amputee, was banned from both the Paralympics and Olympics after a court deemed him “unnaturally tall”.

Leeper - who is already a Paralympic silver medallist and world record holder - was told his running prosthetic legs were too long after the 2018 rule change.

The “maximum allowable standing height” (MASH) rule is used by the Games committees to predict the hypothetical height of a double amputee.

The athlete argues the MASH rule is “racially discriminatory” after studies were conducted on only white and Asian people.

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