Young Tom Cole is a world-class swimmer - but his chance to compete in the 2012 London Paralympic Games is slim.

The 18-year-old, a member of the Colchester Phoenix club, has won a clutch of medals, and has chalked up a 1,500 metre world record in the sport he loves.

But this counts for nothing with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which says he cannot compete against physically-disabled swimmers because it says his condition - Downs Syndrome (DS) - is intellectual.

Its decision has been branded as "blatant and wrongful discrimination" by Tom's sister, Kelly Cole, who is campaigning for a change in the rules to create a section solely for DS competitors.

If the IPC does not back down, she is threatening to take the matter to court as a human rights issue.

Miss Cole, 30, said: "Internationally, there is a category - section 14 - for people with learning and intellectual disabilities, but they are banned from the Paralympics.

"The IPC cherry-picks which disabilities they allow to compete. There are currently three categories for visual impairment and ten for physical impairments. However, there is not one for DS."

She argues that DS is as much about physical as it is about intellectual difficulties, citing 92 medical conditions, many of which can affect a person's abilities both in and out of the pool.

An IPC spokesman told the Gazette a new system needed to be created for people with intellectual disabilities, enabling competitors to be matched against each other.