New Zealand's Tupou Neiufi in the women's 100m backstroke S8. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Explainer - You can't have a Paralympic Games or Para sport without sport classification - so how does it work and what do all those letters and numbers mean?
The Paris 2024 Paralympics start this Thursday and will bring together as many as 4400 athletes from around the world. New Zealand is sending 25 Para athletes to compete across eight different sports.
Sport classification is a fundamental part of Para sport because it groups athletes with an eligible impairment into classes, to make for a better and fairer competition between all the athletes.
Each sport has its own system but in Para athletics for example, the sport class consists of a prefix "T" or "F" and a number. The prefix T stands for "track", marathon and jumping events, and F stands for "field".
Classes are divided in terms of type (indicated by the first digit) and level of impairment. In general, the lower the second digit, the greater the degree of impairment.
Para sport is open to athletes with physical, visual and intellectual impairments and these can be divided into 10 eligible impairment types.
Why are athletes who look different in the same race?
On Sunday 25 August, 2024, the Paralympic Games Torch Relay stopped off at La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendee, France). Photo: AFP / Hans Lucas
Classification has evolved from grouping athletes together with a similar medical diagnosis to the current system which takes into consideration the impact of the impairment on their ability to perform a particular event.
Therefore, you will see athletes with different health conditions competing against each other within each class. Some classifications include both amputee and non-amputee competitors.
In Para swimming for example you might see an amputee competing against an athlete with cerebral palsy, which can result in a lack of co-ordination.
In Para athletics wheelchair racing events, you will see athletes with leg amputations racing together with athletes who suffer from paraplegia, which is a paralysis that affects the legs.
How does it work in team sports?
Team sports like wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball include players of differing levels of impairment, so how do you ensure there's a level playing field between two opposing teams?
In wheelchair rugby a points system is used, so every individual is given a classification depending on the severity of their impairment. There is a maximum total number of points that are allowed on the court at any one time.
It means you can't field a team of players who are all on a higher level of function, and having a mix provides inclusion for athletes who have more severe impairments.
Both men and women play wheelchair rugby on the same team. Teams are awarded an additional 0.5 to their 8-point total for every female player that they have on court.
There are other methods of creating an even playing field within Para sport.
In the S/SB11 class - visually impaired swimmers compete against those who are completely blind so as to ensure competition is fair, all competitors are required to wear goggles which are completely blackened out.
In Para triathlon an interval start is used in one of the classes to ensure a level playing field between partially sighted triathletes and blind triathletes competing with a guide.
How do classifiers decide what sport class an athlete should be in?
New Zealander Rebecca Foulsham is the World Para Athletics Head of Classification. Photo: Supplied
International sport federations develop their own classification systems but there are certain standards set out under the IPC Athlete Classification Code.
It usually starts with a classifier reviewing medical documentation to confirm a person's particular health condition. Then an athlete gets assessed by a classification panel, starting with a physical assessment.
New Zealander Rebecca Foulsham is the World Para Athletics head of classification and said it depended on the impairment type.
"If you've got limb problems, you might have your muscle power tested. In athletics if they are a 400m runner, we would take them through some running tests, and then also watch and film them running 400 metres," Foulsham said.
Most Para athletes will then be observed in-competition before they are given a classification.
Can Para athletes move up and down classes over their career?
New Zealand's Will Stedman wins gold in the 400m at the para athletic world championships in Kobe, Japan 2024. Photo Augusto Bizzi Photo: Augusto Bizzi
Yes, and there are a number of reasons why a Para athlete could be reviewed and reclassified, such as they might have a chronic health condition that deteriorates over time.
"We have a group of impairments that we know have the potential of changing with training or as you get older with your skeletal maturity so some of the co-ordination type impairments might change over time," Foulsham said.
"Or they might have first come into classification with a condition that was still undergoing rehabilitation, so it's permanent but there's some potential it could improve and therefore they could function better in that sport."
Also, a sport may review and change the rules around how the class boundaries have been set up, so athletes may fall into a different class.
Why do some sports have so many classes?
Some sports like Para powerlifting have just one class that the athletes compete in, although it is still separated across 10 different weight categories per gender.
"Para powerlifting is a very defined activity - you're strapped down on your back on the bench," Foulsham said.
At the other end of the scale, dozens of sports classes exist within Para athletics and Para swimming, which are open to athletes with any of the 10 eligible impairments recognized by the IPC (the International Paralympic Committee).
Para athletics has more than 50 sports classes.
"And in athletics you have a choice whether to sit or stand to compete. For example, somebody who's a lower limb amputee could choose to run on the track or choose to race in a wheelchair so that increases the number of classes again," Foulsham said.
What if athletes intentionally underperform during the classification process?
Sophie Pascoe after getting gold at the Women's 100m Freestyle S9 Swimming Final at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Photo: Photosport / Matthew Impey
Deliberately exaggerating impairments is taken very seriously because being put in the wrong sport class can improve a Para athletes chances of winning a medal.
Competitors without disabilities have also competed in some Paralympic Games, with the Spanish entry in the intellectually disabled basketball tournament at the 2000 Paralympics the most notorious example.
Spain was stripped of their gold medal after it was revealed that most of the players had not undergone medical tests to ensure that they had a disability.
Stronger sanctions have been introduced to deal with intentional misrepresentation in response to concerns about cheating within the system.
Two year's ago India's Para athletics athlete Vinod Kumar was banned from competition for two years for intentional misrepresentation and his results at the Tokyo Paralympics were disqualified.
He was observed performing several movements and functions in competition which were not consistent with his performance during the physical and technical aspects of classification.
"We have also sanctioned athletes for fraudulent identity behaviour, which is another form of intentionally misrepresenting yourself during classification," Foulsham said.
Find the the schedule for every Paralympic event here.
