Para Sport: Murder, Mayhem and Madness

The phrase “para sport” tends to confuse people. Their face tends to scrunch in confusion and then they say something like “Oh! Like Oscar Pistorius”. Of course, then it’s my turn to scrunch my face at the idea that the only para athlete the general population is aware of is a convicted murderer. So, I thought I could give a quick introduction to the wonderful world of para sport, beyond felons, I mean.

Q: What is para sport?

Para sport, also written as para-sport and parasport, refers to sports that are developed or adapted for those with disabilities. I know this definition is super vague. But, the nitty gritty of it is that the words “sport” and “disability” are widely-debated. Sports have been used to describe every sort of activity from chess to MMA. “Disability” which holds its own range of definitions seems to describe anyone who “differs from the norm” because of something medically explainable. So, with these two expansive definitions, you could use the “vague-ities” to attribute the term “parasport” to everything from a blind and Deaf person playing chess competitively to an MMA fighter with no limbs. The possibilities are endless. Originally, para sport was an adaptation of able-bodied (AB) sports to engage injured veterans returning home, including archery and wheelchair basketball.

Q: What are the Paralympics?

The Paralympics are an international sports competition of world-class, elite athletes with different disabilities. Paralympics as we know them today were started as the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948 as an opportunity for WW2 veterans and civilians to participate in sport. The 1948 Stoke Mandeville Games only had one sport, archery, and had 14 men and 2 women participants. The Stoke Mandeville Games ran annually and in 1952 it became an international event by hosting Dutch competitors. The 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games in 1960 became recognized as the first Paralympic Games. It had 209 competitors from 18 countries who competed in 57 events in 8 sports.

Now, the Paralympic Games run alongside the Olympic Games at the same host city with the same resources and venues approximately 2 weeks after the Olympic Closing Ceremony.

Q: Are all para sports adaptations of able-bodied (AB) sports?

No. While many para sports are adapted versions of AB sports, there are unique para sports that have no AB counterpart. For example, Goalball. The best way to explain Goalball is that it’s played on an indoor court (about the size of half a basketball court) with large goals (like soccer goals), has a ball with bells in it, and everyone is blindfolded. I’m not really sure what image that description caused in your head, but it’s sort of like a combination of soccer, dodgeball and bowling while blindfolded. For the 2012 Paralympics Games short, comprehensive introduction videos were made for each sport. Check out the overview of Goalball video.

Q: Can you put a motor on the wheelchair to make it go faster and cheat?

Sigh… No. And if you ask me to “stick to the speed limit” I might mentally break! (rolls eyes) Like all sports, unfortunately, there will be those who think cheating is a valid option. While there have been plenty of people attempting to cheat with ingenious inventions to give them an advantage. All the equipment is checked and has to abide by strict manufacturing rules, measurements and sizes to ensure an even playing field is reached. However there are ways around these rules, for instance a company might make a new wheelchair or prosthetic design for a certain athlete or country that might greatly improve the performance. To make the equipment “legal-ish” they agree to sell the equipment (which is a rule) at an exorbitant price out of reach to most athletes. So, like mentioned above. Some people will always try to skirt the rules to their benefit, it’s generally looked at as “a dick move” (or for the more PC crowd, “frowned upon”) but with potential money and sponsorship on the line some think it’s worth the risk and reputation.

Q: What disabilities are represented in the Paralympics?

First of all let me assure you, no, you don’t have to be in a wheelchair or missing a limb to be a para-athlete! (you’d be surprised how many people think this!)

Over the years the Paralympic movement has broadened their range of eligible disabilities to include all physical impairments. These are broken up into three groups.

Vision impairment
Intellectual impairment
Physical Impairments consisting of - impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, ataxia, athetosis, hypertonia, short stature, leg length difference.

For those who aren’t used to the medical terminology here’s a more layman translation (please take it with a grain of salt, or the whole shaker even)

Vision Impairment → Low vision or Blind
Intellectual impairment → Developmental disability, neurodiversity
Impaired Muscle Power → Inherent muscle weakness
Impaired Passive Range of Movement → Limited range of motion
Limb deficiency → missing a limb (or part of, due to congenital condition or accident)
Ataxia → Incoordination (due to nervous system disability)
Athetosis → Involuntary muscle spasms and contractions
Hypertonia → Unusual muscle tightness
Short Stature → below average height (ie. dwarfism)
Leg length difference → legs are different lengths (I would have never guessed either)

Check out this link to read more details about the individual impairments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralympic_Games#Classification

Q: What’s the difference between the Paralympics and the Special Olympics?

This is a super duper common question. This is also a long, nuanced discussion, but I’ll outline the basics to help you understand the differences.

The Paralympics are a sporting event held every four years for elite athletes with a range of disabilities including physical, visual, and intellectual (see last question). The Paralympics sits parallel to the Olympics (Fun fact: hence the name) and is the highest level of competition for para athletes. Tough standards and qualifying criteria are set to be able to compete, and the same anti-doping and anti corruption standards are enforced as our able-bodied counterparts.

The Special Olympics is a multi-sports program set up specifically for people with intellectual disabilities to participate in sport and community engagement. With world games events being held every four years to give athletes the ability to compete on the international level and build community and love for sports.

The points of confusion are the level of competition and the eligibility of the athletes. The mission of the Special Olympics is “continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community” and focuses on sport and competition as community and fitness building. The Paralympics is focused on elite competition and training that parallels the Olympic legacy. Athletes who fall under the “intellectual impairment” classifications make up less than 3% (London 2012) of Paralympians as they are only eligible for a few events. On the other hand, the Special Olympics are specifically for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

The UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program, a university department I’ve been able to partner with a couple of times, made a nice chart summarising the differences. Check out their Special Olympics vs. Paralympics chart.

While the names are similar the events and missions are quite different, although there is some overlap, of course.

IPC Logo

Special Olympics Logo

Q: How about some fun records to round out this blog?

You got it, buddy!

Powerlifting: Heaviest Paralympic Bench Press

Male

Siamand Rahman from Iran (RIP) - +107 kg class, lifted a whopping 310 kgs to set the world record and claim gold in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. He won the Gold in the 2012 Paralympics as well. To put this into perspective the able bodied bench World Record is 350 kgs set last year…using their legs…

Siamand Rahman receiving his gold medal at Rio 2016

Female

Josephine Orji from Nigeria - +86kg class, lifted 160kgs in Rio 2016 to win Gold and set the current world record. The able-bodied 90+ kg female World Record is 172.5 kgs. Go, Josephine!

Josephine Orji winning her gold medal at Rio 2016.

Athletics: Fastest 100m in a Wheelchair

Male

Leo-Pekka Tähti from Finland - T54 classification (fully upper body function, limited/none lower body function), pushed the time of 13.63 seconds to break the world record and win gold in the 2012 London Paralympic Games. The guy has literally snapped chairs in half from pushing with so much power, even flipping across the finish line upside down... (4.05 seconds slower than the GOAT Usain Bolt)

Leo-Pekka Tähti breaking his chair, 2009

See? I wasn’t kidding. This might be why we have to wear helmets now…

Female

Tatyana McFadden from the USA -T54 classification, broke the world record for the women’s 100m sprint in 15.35 second in 2016 in a track meet in Indianapolis, USA. (4.86 seconds slower than the able-bodied world record).

Hopefully after this flurry of information, you’ve learned a lot about para sport. I hope you’ve found a new favorite sport to watch or participate in and a para athlete to root for (besides me, of course). Personally, I’m really glad we wear helmets now…

Sam McIntoshApril 30, 2020Comment