Atlanta swim league in flap over flipper used by 14-year-old

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Posted 4:44PM on Thursday, August 15, 2002

ATLANTA - A 14-year-old boy's use of a flipper on his prosthetic leg has churned up controversy in his competitive swimming league, including the resignations of all the league's board members and the threat of a federal lawsuit. Parents of other children say Hunter Scott swims faster since he started strapping the flipper on his left leg. Hunter, an athletic and growing teenager, said it just helps his balance and doesn't put other swimmers at a disadvantage. He says, ``Without it, my body tends to roll in the water. I think it's helped me out a lot, but not because it's a propulsion device.'' A birth defect stopped development in Hunter's thigh bone, and doctors had to remove his foot when he was two. Now 14, he swims, plays baseball and hockey and lifts weights. Hunter started using the flipper last summer, his eighth year in the Roswell River Rats swim club. Dekalb Atlanta Swim League officials say he's about four seconds faster since he's used the flipper. This summer, after a coach questioned the flipper, the league's board decided such a device was not permitted by U.S.A. Swimming, the sport's governing body. The league told Hunter he couldn't use the flipper in competition. Hunter's parents threatened to sue the board and its members under the American With Disabilities Act and seek an injunction to halt divisional and championship competition. The board decided to allow Hunter to use the flipper this year and will set rules on such equipment next spring. Then, worried about future lawsuits and angered by the controversy, all ten board members resigned. Hunter used the flipper in the championships in July; he finished fifth in the 100 meter freestyle and ninth in the 50 meter butterfly. In the meantime, the Atlanta swim league, whose membership includes three thousand children, is in limbo. It is operated by volunteers, and no one has stepped forward since the board resigned.