Athletics is a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking.
Saúl Mendoza Hernández is a former wheelchair racer, who competed at the Olympic and Paralympic levels.
Kurt Harry Fearnley, is an Australian wheelchair racer, who has won gold medals at the Paralympic Games and 'crawled' the Kokoda Track. He has a congenital disorder called sacral agenesis which prevented fetal development of certain parts of his lower spine and all of his sacrum. In Paralympic events he is classified in the T54 classification. He focuses on long and middle-distance wheelchair races, and has also won medals in sprint relays. He participated in the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Games. Fearnley finished his Paralympic Games career with silver and bronze medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. He won a gold and silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Christie Dawes née Skelton is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair racing athlete. She has won three medals in athletics at six Paralympics from 1996 to 2016.
Mario Santillán is a Paralympic athlete from Mexico competing mainly in category T46 long distance events. He is missing his right hand.
El Salvador first competed in the Paralympic Games at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, Australia. It has participated in the Summer Paralympic Games every four years since that time. El Salvador has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics, and no Salvadorian has ever won a Paralympic medal.
Marathon events have been held at the Summer Paralympic Games, for both men and women, since the 1984 Summer Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville and New York City. They are held as part of the Paralympic athletics programme.
Heinrich Köberle, born in 1946, is a German athlete. He competes in wheelchair marathons in a handcycle, and has won four gold medals in marathons at the Paralympic Games - more than any other athlete. He holds the record for the fastest men's marathon in his disability category, set in Berlin in 1995, in 2:23:08.
The Men's marathon T11 was a marathon event in athletics at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, for totally blind athletes. Defending champion Harumi Yanagawa of Japan took part, as did 1992 gold medallist Carlo Durante of Italy, and 1988 gold medallist Joerund Gaasemyr or Norway, holder of the Paralympic record in 2:45:48. There were thirteen starters, from nine countries; twelve of them reached the finish line. Portugal's Carlos Amaral Ferreira took gold, setting a new world record in 2:38:27, and finishing over nine minutes ahead of silver medallist Robert Matthews.
The Men's marathon T11 was a marathon event in athletics at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, for totally blind athletes. Defending champion and world record holder Carlos Amaral Ferreira of Portugal took part, along with sixteen other athletes, from a total of ten countries. No athlete had ever successfully defended his title in the men's fully blind marathon, and Ferreira failed to become the first; he took silver, finishing half a minute behind Japan's Yuichi Takahashi.
The women's marathon T54 was a marathon event in athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, for wheelchair athletes. It was the only marathon event held for women. Wheelchair athletes with a disability level more severe than T54 were permitted to compete in the T54 marathon. Ten athletes, from seven countries, took part; defending champion Kazu Hatanaka of Japan was not among them.
The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with a disability competed, and the Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Richard Nicholson is an Australian Paralympic powerlifter and athlete. He has competed at five successive Paralympic Games from the 1996 to 2012 Summer Paralympics. At the 2000 Games, he won a silver medal in the powerlifting Men's Up to 60 kg event. In athletics, at the 2004 Athens Paralympics he won a silver medal in the Men's 4 × 100 m T53–54 event and at the 2012 London Paralympics a bronze medal in the Men's 4 × 400 m T53–54 event.
Roy Daniell is an Australian runner with a vision impairment, who has won two medals at three Paralympics.
Gregory Stephen "Greg" Smith, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete and wheelchair rugby player who won three gold medals in athletics at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, and a gold medal in wheelchair rugby at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, where he was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Men's marathon races for wheelchair athletes at the 2004 Summer Paralympics followed a course from Marathon to the Panathinaiko Stadium, and started at 08:00 on 26 September. Events were held in three wheelchair disability classes, together with two classes of visually impaired athletes.
Alberto Suárez Laso is a T12 athlete from Spain who competes in long distance events like the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, half marathon and marathon. He is a world record holder in the men's T12 marathon, winning gold in the event at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
El Amin Chentouf, is a Moroccan para-athlete running in T12 distance races. He has represented his country at two Summer Paralympics winning gold medals at both the 2012 and 2016 Games. Outside the Paralympics, Chentouf is also a world series Marathon champion, winning the T12/13 event at three London Marathons.
Singapore competed at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea. Eight competitors from Singapore competed in a total of two sports, and did not place in the medal table.
The Men's marathon T12 was a marathon event in athletics at the 1996 Summer Paralympics, for visually impaired athletes. The defending champion from the 1992 Paralympics, Mark Farnell, and silver medalist Anton Sluka, returned for this year's marathon. Farnell failed to defend his title, and took silver, finishing 13 seconds behind Sluka, who was now representing Slovakia in its first games as an independent country. Of the ten starters, nine reached the finish line.
