Heather Mills faces 'verbal abuse' & 'physical harassment' allegations
Heather Mills, a part of the British disabled Skiing team & the ex wife of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, finds herself in trouble after the International Paralympic Committee alleged she “verbally abused” and “physically harassed” an official.
Mills,who lost the lower half of her left leg after an accident in 1993, had recently announced that she had all but given up hope on participating at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics after the new prosthetic leg she was competing on had not been ratified by the IPC. The IPC skiing committee head, Sylvana Mestre, claims that Mills did not take the news too well.
“I was trying to explain [to Mills] that this is not the equipment we approved earlier in the year and then that was it, she exploded. She jumped on me. She grabbed me from the back and she started to say that ‘you don’t know who I am, I will make your life miserable’.” <Mestre said.
Craig Spence, head of media at the IPC, backed Mestre’s claims. He said: “It was harassment. It was absolutely disgraceful behaviour. It is likely we will sanction the athlete and this will incur a fine of between €500-1,000.”
Spence also told Radio 5 on Thursday morning that Mills had turned up uninvited for a coaches’ meeting on Monday despite being asked not to be present.
Mills, the Silver medallist at the 2013 Winter Games in Queenstown, New Zealand, however found some support from her coach John Clarke who said that he was going to register a formal complaint with the IPC about the behaviour of Mestre, claiming there was a “vendetta” against Mills and that Mestre had “deliberately put barriers in the way” to halt her progress.
On being asked whether Heather Mills still had a chance to be part of the 2014 Britain team, Craig Spence said: “That’s for her to decide. We have rules in place, we are likely to sanction her for her tantrum and if she submits an equipment form and her new prosthetics supplier takes liablility for that in coompetition, then there’s a chance we will sign that off, but the ball is very much in Heather Mills’ court right now.”