Outandabout-Magazine-Oct-issue-191

30 | OUT AND ABOUT COSTA BLANCA
Paralympic Movement
The Paralympic Movement offers sport
opportunities for athletes with physical,
vision and/or intellectual impairments
that have at least one of the following 10 eligible
impairments: Impaired muscle power, impaired
passive range of movement, Limb deficiency, Leg
length difference, Short stature, Muscle tension.
The word “Paralympic” derives from the
Greek preposition “para” (beside or alongside)
and the word “Olympic”. Its meaning is
that Paralympics are the parallel Games to
the Olympics and illustrates how the two
movements exist side-by-side.
In the Paralympic Games, the eligibility
criteria differ across sports and disability groups.
... In the Special Olympics, an athlete must be at
least eight years of age and be identified by an
agency or professional as having an intellectual
disability to be eligible to participate.
Special Olympics welcomes all athletes with
intellectual disabilities, (ages 8 and older) of
all ability levels, to train and compete in over
30 Olympic-type sports. ... To participate in the
Paralympic Games, athletes must fulfil certain
criteria and meet certain qualifying standards in
order to be eligible.
What is T20 Paralympics?
The Paralympic class for Track and Field
athletes with intellectual impairment is “20.” The
Prefix T to the class denotes Track events (e.g.
T20) while “F” denotes Field events (e.g. F20).
T44 is a disability sport classification for
disability athletics, applying to “Single below
knee amputation or an athlete who can walk
with moderately reduced function in one or both
legs.” It includes ISOD A4 and A9 classes.
What is Paralympics 11? Class 11 : Paralympic
Games Class 11
The Paralympic Games are a multi-sport
event for athletes with physical, mental and
sensorial disabilities. This includes
mobility disabilities, amputees, visual
disabilities and those with cerebral pfounder Sir
Ludwig Guttmann
Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the neurosurgeon who
founded of the Paralympic Games. The Jewish
doctor arrived in Oxford in 1939 having fled
Nazi Germany.
Sir Ludwig Guttmann was a British
neurologist who established the Stoke
Mandeville Games, the sporting event for people
with disabilities (PWD) that evolved in England
into the Paralympic Games. A Jewish doctor who
fled Nazi Germany just before the start of the
Second World War, Guttmann was a founding
father of organized physical activities for people
with disabilities. Please see the article on Ludwig
Guttmann.