Rocky Mountain News posted an op ed piece criticizing a lawsuit brought by Scot Hollenbeck and two other paralympic athletes. They're suing the U.S. Olympic Committee for discrimination. The author makes some seemingly good points. For example, (from article) -- After all, direct spending on Paralympic athletes has mushroomed in recent years, from $7.7 million for the 1996-2000 Olympic cycle to $15 million in the current four-year period. A further funding boost of more than 25 percent is projected for the period beginning in 2005.

In the last two years alone, the USOC has created a special arm to manage Paralympic athletes. It has souped up the search for commercial sponsors (with heartening success), identified the main need of disabled athletes (expert coaching) and begun filling it, and worked to establish performance-based criteria so that athletes know how they can qualify for direct funding and other benefits.

So, why the lawsuit? Have these athletes lost touch with reality? Assuming everything brought out in this piece is true, what would be the reasons for filing such a lawsuit?

Consider this article in iCan Online. Although the three athletes' reasons for suing are made clearer, I can't help but feel there's more behind this lawsuit. Could it be Mr. Hollenbeck feels slighted because the USOC didn’t allow him to participate in the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Paralympics, or is it because the USOC ended the relationship with Vie Sports Marketing (a company formed by Scot Hollenbeck)? I would love to see a debate between USOC spokesman, Darryl Seibel and Scot Hollenbeck on MSNBC or FoxNews. Getting a good look at their expressions may tell us a lot.

As for me, I would like to believe this lawsuit will bring about a positive result. I’m not so sure it will, though. If it is true, as was written in bijournals.com that the USOC admits it does discriminate, it will be curious to see how the court rules in this case. What concerns me is that this lawsuit could create a backlash against the athletes, which could ruin the tremendous strides already made in the paralympics. After all, the success of the 2002 Salt Lake City Paraympic Games was enough to make a believer out of me, so much so, it caused me to rant about disability sports in general, the potential of the Paralympics to be a commercial success in television ( i.e. A&E’s wonderful coverage) and how that success could be used to catapult people with disabilities into the mainstream. People who are nondisabled and have seen the paralympics tell me they come away exhilarated from the experience. Having watched it on A&E, I know exactly what they’re talking about.

Let’s just hope for everyone’s sake the lawsuit is legitimate, and that regardless of the outcome, the Paralympics and their athletes continue to shine.