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Jessica Long, Anastasia Pagonis, Gia Pergolini, and Julia Gaffney were barred from the 2024 Paralympic closing ceremony after being admonished for social media behavior earlier in the Games.
“We can confirm that sanctions have been imposed on several athletes due to unacceptable behavior,” a USPOPC spokesperson said in a statement to the Washington Post. “It is important to uphold the standards expected of Team USA athletes, and we remain committed to addressing any actions that undermine our values.”
These disciplinary actions come after Erin Popovich, the Director of U.S. Paralympic swimming, sent an email addressing the social media posts targeting other members of the U.S. Paralympic team. “I want to express my deep disappointment regarding the recent conduct observed on social media, which blatantly disregards the message we previously communicated as the Team USA delegation terms,” Popovich wrote before adding the athletes had been reported to the governing board and that “a disciplinary action will follow shortly.”
While neither the USOPC spokesperson nor Popovich detailed the behavior in question, it is likely related to social media posts where the four swimmers appeared to question the disability classification of their teammate Christie Raleigh Crossley, who has a neurological condition that has been classed as S9. Crossley has been public about dealing with bullying before the Games, including accusations that she is faking her disability.
The 37-year-old Crossley earned five medals at their Paralympic debut in Paris, including gold in the 100 backstroke S9 and 100 butterfly S9. She is classified as an S9 swimmer but raced in the 50 freestyle S10 as there was no S9-only event and won silver. This was one of many instances of swimmers racing up a classification and Crossley was not the only swimmer racing up to medal.
In prelims of the 50 freestyle, Crossley set a world record—her first—in her classification. On a social media post by World Para Swimming celebrating the achievement, Spanish S9 swimmer Sarai Gascon Moreno commented “S9? It’s a joke?”
Long replied to Moreno, writing “I stand with you!”
Long, one of the most decorated Paralympians in history, did not deny responding to Gascon Moreno when asked about it in Paris. “For me, I’ve seen the Paralympic movement for so long, I think we have intentional misrepresentation [rules] for a reason. And I think we are not using it. I think we really should, right?” She continued, “I want to see Paralympics with integrity. I want to see it better. And that’s what I will always stand for.”
These comments are in line with what Long told The Washington Post in an article that appeared at the start of the Games. “I’m just really frustrated because we’re so afraid to call people out almost in that disabled space, where it’s like ‘no, you can’t ask me those types of questions.’ But I think we need to take it up a notch.”
In a separate, now deleted post about Raleigh Crossley, Gaffney wrote “Not a positive impact. Intentional misrepresentation is never cute.” Pagonis replied “this” with a hands-raising emoji and Pergolini echoed the sentiment, commenting “well said.”
Raleigh Crossley responded to the reinvigorated comments about their disability and classification by telling The Washington Post, “I went from enjoying a world record to being utterly devastated that the entire world seems to think I was a cheater and that I was somehow faking the hole in my brain and the cyst in my spinal cord. To be told online by all of these bullies that I am not somehow disabled as I appear, just because I can swim faster than them, it’s pretty devastating.”
The closing ceremony ban may not be the end of the discipline for the four swimmers. The Washington Post reports they could also face suspensions—barring them from competing for the national team—and a loss of stipends.
