Sports
Exeter's Victoria Arlen Featured on Good Morning America
She told the television program she won't be discouraged by the ruling that she can't compete in the World Swimming Championships.
Good Morning America ran a feature Thursday morning on Exeter swimmer Victoria Arlen, who was disallowed from competing in this week's World Swimming Championships in Montreal, Canada after doctors ruled that her disability wasn't severe enough.
Arlen is in a wheelchair after suffering from the spinal cord disease transverse myelitis.
"One of the medical reports had said there's a chance I might be able to walk again," Arlen told the popular ABC morning show. "It was basically penalizing me for having hope."
Arlen said she won't be discouraged by the ruling.
"I refuse to be bitter," she said. "I just hope this doesn't have to happen to any other athlete."
Meanwhile, the head of the International Paralympic Committee said this week that he's not ruling out a return to the pool for Arlen.
"I think if that was the situation that did happen and there was absolute proof that this is a permanent impairment, then that it something that could be reviewed," Sir Phillip Craven told the Canadian Press.
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