Boccia is one of the sports only present at the Paralympic Games and has no equivalent in the Olympic programme.
While in athletics, hammer throwing and hurdling are not practiced at the Paralympic Games, boccia is a Paralympic sport in its own right. Since its appearance at the 1984 Paralympic Games, boccia has been an indoor sport similar to pétanque or curling.
Each boccia player has six balls that he throws or rolls, with the aim of getting as close as possible to the “Jack”, the white ball positioned on the other side of the 12.5m long and six-metre wide court. Boccia is played individually, in pairs, or in teams and the player or team must win four rounds to be declared the winner.
Boccia is reserved for wheelchair athletes and only concerns motor disabilities. Also, the position of the player throughout a round remains the same and he cannot move laterally on the court to have a better playing angle.
Although present since 1984 at the Paralympic Games, boccia has only recently developed in France. “We only started to structure it in 2008/2009” explains Sophie Ternel, head of development for disabled Boccia in France. Long absent from the Paralympic Games, the French teams qualified for the first time at the Tokyo Games in 2021, and will be well represented for the Paris Games, where the teams were directly qualified. Five athletes will therefore try to achieve the objective announced by the federation “at least two medals individually and two in doubles”, Jules Menard, Fayçal Meguenni, Sonia Heckel, Aurélien Fabre and Aurélie Aubert.
Classifications for boccia
Named according to the Paralympic standard by the letter “BC” (for boccia), the competitions are divided into four categories, both individual and team.
- BC 1: players with muscular disorders requiring the help of an assistant to stabilize the chair or give the ball to the players
- BC 2: players with muscle problems but not requiring an assistant to help them
- BC 3: Players requiring a ramp to roll the ball because they cannot throw it directly. The ramp is placed by an assistant according to the player’s instructions, and the assistant must turn his back to the game so as not to influence the position of the ramp and the player’s decisions.
- BC 4: Players who have difficulty moving their limbs but do not require assistance.
Boccia programme at the Paralympic Games
Boccia will take place from August 29 to September 5 at the Arena Paris Sud.
Individual competitions
All categories, from BC1 to BC4 for men and women, take place at the same time
- Group stage : from August 29 to 31
- Quarter-finals and semi-finals: August 31 and September 1
- Finals: September 1st and 2nd
Team competitions
Mixed boccia competitions in pairs and teams will take place at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
- Group stage: September 3
- Quarter-finals and semi-finals: September 4th
- Finals: September 5th