List Details Violations Across Several Locations

The unusual sequence of events began Wednesday during the event's heats. Varga, from Szeged, took to the water but never reached the starting line, and the race was held without her. It emerged minutes later that she had capsized during warm-up after being pulled off course, and she had to cling to her boat for more than five minutes waiting for a rescue jet ski to arrive.

"It is unacceptable that something like this can happen, said Botond Hajdu, the national paracanoe team captain and a member of the international federation's discipline committee." He noted that several competitors had already complained that the Polish organizers were not providing enough rescue jet skis on the water. "Already during the pre-race classifications, the classifiers drew the local organizers' attention to the fact that there were too few rescue jet skis. After Kata capsized, long minutes passed before the jet ski arrived.

In my opinion, it is unacceptable that such an incident should happen not only at a world championship but even at a smaller domestic race." On the one hand, it is terrible to think what can go through a parathlete's mind during such a long wait in the water; on the other hand, if the jet ski had arrived in time and they had been able to help Kata back into her boat, she would most likely have made it to the start, the official said. He added that the capsize occurred 20 minutes before the race start, so if the rescue had begun in time, Varga could have competed under the rules. The Hungarian federation filed a protest with the race jury, which was initially rejected on procedural grounds, but on Thursday afternoon the jury upheld the subsequent appeal, allowing Varga to start as the tenth entrant in Friday morning's semifinal, giving her another chance to reach the final and win another medal.

The 40-year-old parathlete is a two-time world championship silver medalist and three-time bronze medalist. Hajdu based the appeal on the argument that if the rescue jet ski had assisted the athlete in time, she would still have reached the start of the heat. Related: It's hard to speak now, said the Hungarian canoeist in tears after the women's four missed the world championship final.