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    Denisa Ureche
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    The Paralympics began in 1948 when Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition for World War 2 veterans with spinal injuries. It has since grown significantly, with over 3,800 athletes from 136 countries competing in the 2004 Athens Summer Paralympic Games. Swimming is a major sport at the Paralympics, with Britain performing well in London in 2012 by winning 39 medals. Swimmers are classified into 13 classes based on the type and severity of their impairment, and compete using rules similar to the Olympics while starting races in different positions depending on their abilities.

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    The Paralympics began in 1948 when Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition for World War 2 veterans with spinal injuries. It has since grown significantly, with over 3,800 athletes from 136 countries competing in the 2004 Athens Summer Paralympic Games. Swimming is a major sport at the Paralympics, with Britain performing well in London in 2012 by winning 39 medals. Swimmers are classified into 13 classes based on the type and severity of their impairment, and compete using rules similar to the Olympics while starting races in different positions depending on their abilities.

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    233 views2 pages

    Sports Essay

    Uploaded by

    Denisa Ureche
    The Paralympics began in 1948 when Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition for World War 2 veterans with spinal injuries. It has since grown significantly, with over 3,800 athletes from 136 countries competing in the 2004 Athens Summer Paralympic Games. Swimming is a major sport at the Paralympics, with Britain performing well in London in 2012 by winning 39 medals. Swimmers are classified into 13 classes based on the type and severity of their impairment, and compete using rules similar to the Olympics while starting races in different positions depending on their abilities.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as odt, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    The Paralympics first started in 1948 when Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition which

    involved world war 2 veterans that had spinal injuries.


    Afterwards a similar event was organized in Toronto, Canada where different disability
    groups were added and the idea of merging together and taking part in athletic sports was a
    success.
    The number of athletes participating in Summer Paralympic Games have increased from 400
    athletes from 23 countries in Rome in 1960 to 3806 athletes from 136 countries in Athens in 2004.
    The Summer and Winter Paralympic Games are the ultimate international competitions for world
    class athletes with a disability. They are linked to the Olympic celebrations every two years and
    athletes must meet strict qualifying standards in order to compete.

    Swimming is one of the bigger sports at the Paralympic Games in terms of numbers of events and
    numbers of competitors. It is a sport in which Britain excel: the team performed well in London to
    win 39 medals in total (just two fewer than Britain's swimmers won in Beijing).
    Swimming comprises medal events in Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly and Breaststroke
    across distances that range from 50m to 400m.

    Races take place in a standard 50m pool, with swimmers starting in a variety of
    different ways: from a standing start, using a dive start, sitting on the starting
    platform, and in the water. The start used is most usually dependant on the degree of
    functionality the athlete has.
    The rules are similar to those for the Olympic Games.

    Swimmers at the Paralympic Games are classified into 13 different classes.


    Swimmers with physical impairments are classified from S1 to S10. These are known as
    functional classifications because classification is based on how an athlete moves in the water.
    This means that, at first glance, a spectator may see athletes with apparently very different
    impairments competing against each other. As long as the athletes move in the water with a similar
    level of impairment, however, they are classified in the same category.
    Amongst the S1-10 categories, athletes with the lower classification numbers have the more severe
    impairments.
    Swimmers who have visual impairments are classified from S11 to S13. S11 swimmers have little
    or no vision, while S13 swimmers will have a greater degree of vision than S11 or S12 athletes, but
    will still have less than 20 degrees of vision. Swimmers who are blind have an assistant called a
    tapper who may use a pole to tap the swimmer to warn them they are approaching the end of a
    length.
    New for London 2012 is the S14 class for athletes with a learning disability.

    Swimming comprises medal events in Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly and Breaststroke across
    distances that range from 50m to 400m.
    Races take place in a standard 50m pool, with swimmers starting in a variety of different ways:
    from a standing start, using a dive start, sitting on the starting platform, and in the water. The start
    used is most usually dependant on the degree of functionality the athlete has.
    The rules are similar to those for the Olympic Games.

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