Today, I learned that reigning World Champion and former Paralympic medalist snowboarder Brenna Huckaby has been denied participation in the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics for being "too disabled" as an above the knee amputee. 

Officially, her competition class was cancelled due too few participants so she was told she could compete against less disabled athletes (below the knee amputees, etc,) at her own peril, which Brenna has done this winter amassing podium finishes against athletes who might have more mobility, but definitely not as much skill.

Now she has been informed that no that is not good enough, and that because she cannot be pigeonholed into her normal classification she cannot compete in a blatant effort by the Paralympic Committee and/or the Chinese Government to reduce overall participation at these games during the ongoing pandemic.

Any athlete who has spent the time and effort to train and successfully compete in a harder class should never be denied the opportunity to compete on their sports biggest stages.  This situation is no different than telling a 74 kg wrestler he cannot compete at 96 kg class when he has medalled there for 4 years.