An overview of the Paralympics

What exactly are the Paralympics?

The Paralympics is a huge international sporting event for sports people with disabilities that takes place just after the Olympic Games in the same host city. Competitors come from all over the world and have a wide range of different disabilities from cerebral palsy to blindness. The Paralympic Games themselves are one of the biggest sporting events in the world and Paralympic athletes are serious, professional athletes who have trained hard for many years and come to The Games to win.

Classifications

To make lots of the sports fair, Paralympic athletes are put into six main categories depending on their disability. This means that Paralympians with the same or similar disabilities get to compete against each other. It wouldn' t be fair, for example, if a blind runner had to compete against an athlete in a wheelchair in the 1500m.

What sports do they play?

There are 20 sports played at the Paralympics and these break down into lots of different events. Some are the same as the Olympics like cycling and swimming but others are completely different and need different skills and talents.

Different sports

"Goalball" is a ball game played by blind athletes. The ball that is used has a bell inside so that players know where it is. Another game is "Boccia" pronounced "Bocha" which is a game for wheelchair users with cerebral palsy or similar conditions. It's a bit like bowls and players have to throw balls nearest to a white ball or "jack".

Modified sports

Lots of Olympic sports are basically the same as their Olympic equivalent with some variations. In wheelchair athletics, athletes use their wheelchairs and can obviously go a lot faster than able bodied runners. In wheelchair rugby, athletes use a modified wheelchair and smash into their opponents. In weightlifting, Paralympians only do the "bench-press" meaning that athletes lay on a special bench to lift the weights.

Finally

The International Olympic Committee or IOC are serious about The Paralympics. They believe that "the practice of sport is a human right" and that everyone should have an equal opportunity to get involved whoever they are.

【滬江小編】殘疾人奧林匹克運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)（Paralympic Games）始辦于1960年，是由國(guó)際奧委會(huì)和國(guó)際殘疾人奧林匹克委員會(huì)主辦的、專為殘疾人舉行的世界大型綜合性運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)，每四年于夏季奧運(yùn)會(huì)后舉辦一屆，迄今已舉辦過12屆。殘奧會(huì)體現(xiàn)著對(duì)公平與人權(quán)的訴求，對(duì)競(jìng)技精神的高揚(yáng)，是身體和智力存在缺憾的人們享受運(yùn)動(dòng)、展現(xiàn)風(fēng)采和活力的舞臺(tái)。在關(guān)注奧運(yùn)會(huì)的同時(shí)，不要忘了對(duì)殘奧會(huì)多投去一道目光噢！