Para Athletics

Para-Athletics is an adaptation of athletics for athletes with disabilities including visual, physical and intellectual impairments. The general rules of the game are based on the rules made for able-bodied athletes. Athletes compete according to their disability classification in each event. Some compete in wheelchairs, some with prostheses and the visually impaired athletes receive guidance from the sighted guides.

 

The first competition of Para-athletics took place in 1952 at the Mandeville Games organized by the World War II veterans. The sport made its debut at the Summer Paralympics in 1960 and always attracted a large number of spectators and the first IPC Athletics World Championships took place in 1994 in Berlin, Germany.

To complete the race in the fastest time possible in sprints, middle/long-distances, relay events and marathon, to jump/leap as far as possible into a sandpit from a takeoff point in long and triple jump, to jump at the greatest height possible over a horizontal bar without knocking it down to the ground in high jump, to throw the primary equipment as far as possible in shot put, discus, javelin and club throw and to score maximum points in each of the five disciplines in pentathlon.

General History

 

Para sports competitions were initially held in 1952 when wheelchair racing was part of the Stoke Mandeville Games which was organised for World War II veterans. It was one of the first eight games included at the first Paralympic Games in 1960 which were held in Rome, Italy.

Throughout the following 20 years, other impairment groups were added to Paralympic rivalry, and today the game is drilled by competitors in more than 120 nations making it the most played Paralympic Sport.

In 2016, the game was renamed from IPC Athletics to Para Athletics, and the International Federation was renamed to World Para Athletics.