PARIS (AP) — Being the follow-up act to the Paris Olympics is not any straightforward process, however the Paralympic Video games that start Wednesday promise to supply up their very own justifiable share of memorable sporting moments.
That is an occasion that highlights the human potential to beat hardships and disabilities, so the phrase “insurmountable” isn’t one you’re prone to hear in Paris over the following two weeks as round 4,400 athletes with a variety of life-impacting impairments compete for medals in 549 occasions throughout 22 sports activities.
“If it appears unattainable, then it may be carried out!” Italian fencer Bebe Vio says on her web site.
She will likely be vying for her third consecutive gold medal in wheelchair fencing. After contracting meningitis as a baby, docs amputated each her forearms and each her legs on the knees to avoid wasting her life.
Right here’s a have a look at a few of the different occasions that athletes will likely be competing in on the Paralympics and the way rivals are categorized primarily based on their incapacity or impairment.
Which sports activities are within the Paralympics?
Of the 22 Paralympic sports activities, solely two shouldn’t have an Olympic equal — goalball and boccia.
Goalball is performed on an indoor court docket the dimensions of a volleyball court docket with targets arrange at every finish. Groups of visually impaired or blind gamers (sporting eyeshades to make sure equity) take turns rolling a ball containing bells towards the opposing purpose whereas the defending crew’s gamers act as goalkeepers.
In boccia, gamers throw or roll leather-based balls as shut as they’ll to a small ball referred to as a jack.
Different wheelchair sports activities embody basketball, fencing, rugby and tennis.
The opposite sports activities are sitting volleyball, blind soccer, and para archery, athletics, badminton, canoe, biking, equestrian, judo, powerlifting, rowing, taking pictures, swimming, desk tennis, taekwondo and triathlon.
Blind soccer involving groups of 5 taking part in with a ball containing rattles will likely be performed beside the Eiffel Tower.
Who can qualify to compete on the Paralympics?
To compete on the Paralympics, athletes will need to have “an underlying well being situation that results in a everlasting eligible impairment,” the Worldwide Paralympic Committee says.
Impairments might be brought on by the likes of cerebral palsy, traumatic mind damage, a number of sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, amputations, bodily accidents or an mental impairment, blindness or decreased sight.
How are athletes categorised?
To make sure honest competitors between Paralympians, athletes are grouped by how restricted they’re by their impairment — in different phrases, how a lot of an impact it has on their potential to compete of their chosen sport.
The classifications intention to make sure that each competitor has a good likelihood to win and that “sporting excellence determines which athlete or crew is in the end victorious,” the Worldwide Paralympic Committee says.
Various kinds of impairments
The Paralympics divide impairments into the three teams: bodily, visible and mental. Bodily impairments are additional divided into eight classes, together with impaired muscle energy, impaired vary of motion, limb deficiency and quick stature.
Each particular person Paralympic sport determines which impairment varieties they’ve competitions for.
Some, like para athletics and para swimming, have competitions for athletes with each kind of impairment, whereas others have only one class. Goalball, as an example, is just for groups of gamers who’re blind or visually impaired.
Evaluation and sports activities lessons
All Paralympians bear an evaluation by a panel of consultants to find out which sports activities class they need to compete in primarily based on the diploma and nature of their impairment. Every sport has its personal standards for find out how to assess the eligibility of rivals. Some, like para powerlifting, solely have one sports activities class. Para athletics, which is open to athletes with any impairment, has greater than 50 sports activities lessons.
The classification system focuses on grouping collectively athletes with comparable purposeful skills quite than comparable disabilities, so athletes with completely different impairments can compete in opposition to one another if they’re allotted to the identical sports activities class.
Initially Revealed: August 27, 2024 at 10:42 a.m.