This is how athletes are classified

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games are on their way to becoming the most important in their history. They are expected to break all viewership records, with a total estimated 4.25 billion viewers worldwide. The previous record is held by the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games with a total of 4.1 billion spectators.

The International Paralympic Committee affirms that this will be possible thanks to the fact that they are being broadcast by more stations and also thanks to the increase in coverage levels. The Games are being covered by more than 150 television and radio stations and websites in 177 territories.

But regardless of all this audience data, many times we have wondered how the Paralympic Games work. When we watch an athletics or swimming race and many of us wonder what are the qualification criteria for the Paralympic Games that are marked for people with different disabilities to compete. We explain it to you.

The sports of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

In the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, 22 sports are competed in, which are in turn divided into different categories depending on the visual, intellectual or physical disability that the athletes have. In each of these categories athletes with similar limitations are grouped into groups so that they can compete equally.

In Tokyo 2020 you will compete in archery, athletics, badminton, wheelchair basketball, boccia, canoeing, cycling, horse riding, fencing on wheels, 5-a-side football, golbol, judo, weightlifting, rowing, shooting, sitting volleyball , swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis. Spain participates in 15 of these 22 disciplines.

The classification

Para sport has a peculiarity that differentiates it from traditional sport and that is that it is necessary to ensure that it is developed under equal conditions. An athlete with a lower degree of disability could have a competitive advantage over others with a higher degree. To prevent this from happening, the International Paralympic Committee has developed a classification system in which athletes are placed in categories to compete based on their disability, this is called “Sports classes”.

This system determines which athletes are eligible to compete in according to which sport and how they must group together to compete against each other. That is, to some extent it is similar to traditional sport when competing based on age, gender or weight.

Each of the sports requires athletes to perform different activities, and the impact of disability varies for all of them. For this reason, in order for the classification to minimize the impact of disability on athletic performance, each sport will have its own classification criteria. That is, the classification criteria for example in swimming is different from that of athletics or badminton.

The steps of classification

There are three steps for Paralympic athletes to qualify for the various disciplines. To evaluate the athlete, the classification panels consider three questions that are answered in their evaluation: Does the athlete have an eligible disability for this sport? Does the athlete’s eligible disability meet the minimum sport disability classification criteria for the Games Paralympics? Which sport class describes the athlete’s limitation more accurately?

Eligible disability

The International Paralympic Committee establishes that there are 10 types of eligible disabilities What are they

• Impaired muscle strength
• Impairment in passive range of motion
• Limb disability
• Leg length difference
• Short stature
• Hypertonia (abnormal increase in muscle tension and reduced ability of a muscle to stretch)
• Ataxia (lack of coordination in muscle movements due to a neurological condition, cerebral palsy, brain injury, or multiple sclerosis)
• Athetosis (difficulty maintaining symmetrical posture due to a neurological condition, cerebral palsy, brain injury, or multiple sclerosis)
• Visual disability
• Intellectual disability

Each Paralympic sport determines for which disability groups it offers sporting opportunities in its classification rules. There are disciplines such as athletics or swimming that provide opportunities for all eligible disability groups. However, there are others that only do it with specific groups, such as horse riding or cycling.

Minimum disability criteria for qualification in the Paralympic Games

The rules of the Paralympic classification in each of the sports define the degree of importance that an eligible disability has for the athlete to be selected, this is called the minimum disability criterion. These criteria for classification in the Paralympic Games must be defined on a scientific basis that assesses the impact of disability on the sporting activity that is being developed. An example can be the maximum height eligible for people with low height or also the level of amputation in the athletes’ limbs.

Sports class

Once the athlete has an eligible disability and exceeds the minimum disability criteria, they will be selected in a sports class. The sports class groups athletes with a similar limitation so that they can compete on equal terms.

The sports class does not have to be made up of athletes with the same disability, that is, if different disabilities cause a limitation in similar activity, these athletes will be able to compete together. This is the reason why we see, for example, athletes competing in swimming with different disabilities, whether in the upper or lower extremities. Let’s see an example:

In the final of the 50-meter backstroke swim of the S5 sport class Teresa Perales won the silver medal when her disability is in the lower body, while the Chinese athlete who got the gold medal has a disability in the upper extremities. However, they both compete in the same sport class.