The International Paralympic Committee has voted to allow athletes with intellectual disabilities to compete at the 2012 Games in London.
Intellectual disability athletes had been banned from taking part in the Athens Games in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008 after it emerged that most of Spain’s intellectual disability basketball team at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics were not disabled.
IPC president Sir Philip Craven said: “[This announcement] is the outcome of a unique and excellent co-operation between sports governance and the scientific community.
“I wish all intellectual disability athletes the best of success in their attempt to set world-class performances at future competitions.”
Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tessa Jowell added: “I've been involved in this campaign for the last four years so I know it wasn’t a simple decision.
“But nobody who’s been at the Special Olympics would doubt that its competitors are every bit as committed as the Paralympians.”
A limited number of sports, including athletics and swimming, will now be included in the 2012 programme in London.
Paralympics GB said it “welcomed” the decision taken over the weekend.
