6-time medallist Becca Meyers won't travel to Tokyo after being denied of an assistant

A six time medallist in swimming from the United States of America (USA), Becca Myers, has decided not to travel to Tokyo for the Paralympics after she was denied of bringing a personal care assistant (PCA) to the Games.

Becca Myers is a six time Paralympics medallist, winning a silver and bronze at the 2012 London Games and then later upgraded it to three gold and one silver at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The 26-year-old was expected to compete in a total of four events at the Tokyo Paralympics.

"I would love to go to Tokyo. Swimming has given me my identity as a person. I have not taken this lightly. But I need to say something to effect a change, because this cannot go on any longer," Becca said to the Washington Post about her decision to quit the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Becca is deaf and blind. Having been born with the rare Usher Syndrome, she was deaf at birth and then slowly lost her eyesight partially. She is said to have been denied a PCA due to the coronavirus related restrictions in the host country of Japan.

Becca Myers needs a PCA to navigate herself and being deprived of it means that she has decided to pull out of the Tokyo Paralympics. She used to compete in the least impaired S13 category, but was recently shifted to the middle S12 class after a further loss in eyesight.