Para-athletics

Kenny van Weeghel in his racing chair at the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships

Paralympic athletics is a disabled sport practiced by athletes with a physical disability have competed at separate international events since 1952. It is governed by IPC Athletics, and is one of the sports at the Summer Paralympic Games since 1960.

Classification

Timothée Adolphe and his sighted guide Cédric Felip

Competiors at elite level competitions, are classified by disability, to arrange athletes with a similar disability in the same event. A classified T12 athlete for example, is a track athlete with a visual impairment.

• F = Field athletes
• T = Track athletes
• 11–13 – Visual impairment. Compete with a sighted guide.
• 20 – Intellectual disability
• 31–38 – Cerebral palsy
• 41–46 – Amputation, and others (including athletes with dwarfism)
• 51–58 – Wheelchair

In wheelchair racing athletes compete in lightweight racing chairs. Most major marathons have wheelchair divisions and the elite racers consistently beat the runners on foot.

See also

• Athletics (sport)
• Athletics at the Summer Paralympics
• IPC Athletics World Championships

External links

• Paralympic athletics at IPC web site
• Media related to Para-athletics at Wikimedia Commons