Each discipline of the 2024 Paralympic Games has its own disability classification system.
When an athlete takes part in a Paralympic event, they are first classified into a disability category governed by a classification system. Carried out by professionals from the medical and technical world, this classification aims to assess the impact of the disability on the athlete’s sporting gesture and performance. Each category is represented by a code such as T11, C1, S7, MS10… But what does that mean?
For so-called “individual” sportsthe classification system follows a common logic with 2 components:
► Letter: It is composed of one or two letters that refer to the sport, named in English.
► Figure: The second component of the classification is the number associated with these letters. The higher the number, the lighter the handicap and vice versa.
Here are some example codes for the different Paralympic sports:
>> For para athletics: The classification of athletes is defined by a letter and a number: T for “Track (running & jumping)” and F for “Field (throwing)” + a number:
- 11 to 13 : visual impairment
- 20 : mental handicap
- 31 to 38 : cerebral motor disability
- 40 to 47 : people of short stature, upper limb amputation or similar, similar lower limb amputation.
- T 51 to 54 : Wheelchair racing
- F51 to 58 : Wheelchair throwing events
- 61 to 64 : amputation of lower limbs
>> For para table tennis: There are eleven disability categories: five for wheelchair players (class 1-5), six for standing players (class 6-11). Classification 11 is for players with an intellectual disability.
>> For para swimming: The letter corresponds to the swimming style – “S” (Swimming) includes butterfly, backstroke and crawl which emphasize the power of the upper limbs. “SB” (Swimming breaststroke) corresponds to breaststroke. “SM” (Swimming Multi): includes multi-stroke events.
- S1 to S10 / SB1 to SB9 / SM1 to SM10: physical disabilities
- S, SB, SM11 to 13: visual impairments
- S/SB/SM14: intellectual disabilities
>> For wheelchair fencing: There are two Paralympic categories:
- Category A: fencers in this category have a disability that necessarily affects at least one lower limb.
- Category B: fencers in this category have a disability that does not allow voluntary mobility of the trunk.
>> For wheelchair tennis:Athletes are classified into two categories:
- “Open”: players with lower limb injuries
- “Quad”: players with lower and upper limb injuries.
For team sports(wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby), a number of points is awarded to each player based on their disability and a total number of points for the team must be respected.
>> For wheelchair basketball,Points range from 1 to 4.5 (1 being the highest handicap) and the total number of points for all five players on the field must not exceed 14.
>> For wheelchair rugby,Each player is assigned a number of points (from 0.5 to 3.5), depending on their degree of handicap. Each team cannot exceed a total of eight points on the field
For blind football:Field players are classified in category B1 (for “blind”, zero or very low visual acuity and/or no perception of light). However, in order to equalize the handicap situations between all players on the field, they must wear a blackout mask. The goalkeeper, on the other hand, can be sighted or have a visual acuity of category B2 or B3.