Member since: 2/1/2008
The Paralympic World Cup begins today and runs through May 11 in Manchester, U.K. The games feature over 400 of the top Paralympic athletes in the world participating in athletic events, and competing for a chance to take part in the Paralympic Games in Beijing in September.
Participants are placed into categories which include "Amputee", "Cerebral Palsy", "Wheelchair", "Vision Impaired" and "Les Autres" (French term meaning "the others"). In addition to track events, the Paralympic World Cup will feature events in swimming, basketball, and cycling.
Read more about the Paralympic World Cup and get event results from the official website.
Hey Danny! Thanks for covering this:-)
Most (none that I can think of) use those classifications much anymore...Everything's broken down a little more-by numbers. For example, swimming has 14 classifications (S1 through S14) based on level of disability. A few of those are classifications for visual impairments-also divided by severity.
The World Cup is awesome-Manchester citizens and the Brits in general really know how to support their disabled athletes!
Kara,
Athletes are divided into these main categories before being classified further according to the degree of Disability. Here is what the official website explains:
Disability Categories
Athletes will compete from five disability categories with athletes grouped according to their different level of impairment.
Amputee
This includes athletes who have at least one major joint in a limb missing, for example the elbow, wrist, knee or ankle.
Cerebral palsy
This is a disorder of movement and posture due to damage to an area, or areas, of the brain that control and coordinate muscle tone, reflexes, posture and movement.
Wheelchair
Generally athletes compete in this category if they have at least 10% loss of function in their lower limbs. Common conditions include traumatic paraplegia and quadriplegia, spina bifida, poliomyelitis, amputees, cerebral palsy and all non ambulant les autres athletes.
Vision Impaired
Athletes come under this classification if they have any condition which interferes with "normal" vision.This incorporates the entire range of vision difficulties from correctable conditions through to total blindness.
Les Autres
This French term for "the others" is used to describe athletes with a range of conditions, such as dwarfism, that don't fit into the traditional classification systems of the established groups.
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