Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking.
Marla Lee Runyan is an American track and field athlete, road runner and marathon runner who is legally blind. She is a three-time national champion in the women's 5000 metres.
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.
The medal table of the 2000 Summer Paralympics ranks the participating National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) by the number of gold medals won by their athletes during the competition. This was the eleventh Summer Paralympic Games, a quadrennial competition open to athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities. The Games were held in Sydney, Australia, from October 18 to October 29, 2000, the first time they had been held in the southern hemisphere. With 3,843 athletes taking part in the 18 sports on the programme, the Games were the second largest sporting event ever held in Australia. The location and facilities were shared with the largest event, the 2000 Summer Olympics, which concluded on 1 October. The Games set records for athlete and country participation, tickets sold, hits to the official Games website, and medals on offer.
The 2010 Asian Para Games, also known as the First Asian Para Games, was a parallel sport event for Asian athletes with a disability held in Guangzhou, China. Two weeks after the conclusion of the 16th Asian Games, It opened on December 12 and closed on December 19, 2010.
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 T10 was a marathon event in athletics at the 1996 Summer Paralympics, for totally blind athletes. Defending champion Carlo Durante of Italy took part, as did 1992 silver medallist Tofiri Kibuuka of Norway, and 1988 gold medallist Joerund Gaasemyr or Norway, holder of the Paralympic record in 2:45:48. Durante failed to defend his title, and took silver, finishing two and a half minutes behind Japan's Harumi Yanagawa, who had finished sixth four years earlier. The two Norwegians failed to obtain a place on the podium. Of the fourteen starters, eleven reached the finish line.
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.
The men's marathon at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in the streets of Christchurch, New Zealand on 30 January.
The 21st International Stoke Mandeville Games, later known as the 1972 Summer Paralympics was an international multi-sport event held in Heidelberg, West Germany, from August 2 to 11, 1972, in which athletes with physical disabilities competed against one another. The German Disabled Sports Association planned to stage the Games in Munich following the 1972 Olympic Games, however the Olympic village in Munich was designated to be closed and converted into private apartments. The organisers tried to arrange for alternative accommodation for the athletes but when this was not possible the city of Heidelberg stepped in with an invite to stage the Games at the University of Heidelberg's Institute for Physical Training.
Marcel Eric Hug is a Paralympian athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in four Summer Paralympic Games for Switzerland, winning two bronze medals in his first Games in Athens in 2004. In 2010 he set four world records in four days, and at the 2011 World Championships he won a gold in the 10,000 metres and four silver medals, losing the gold in three events to long term rival David Weir. This rivalry continued into the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where Hug won two silvers, in the 800m and the marathon. In the 2013 World Championships Hug dominated the field, winning five golds and a silver. During the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Hug was one of the most consistent competitors in the T54 class, winning two golds, in the 800 m and marathon, and two silvers medals, in the 1500m and 500m.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, at the top level of the sport few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Michael Roeger is an Australian T46 athletics competitor. He competed at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics in athletics in middle distance running events. He has won one gold and three bronze medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. He won the gold medal in the Men's T46 marathon at 2019 World Para Athletics Championships held as part of the London Marathon in a world record.
The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, from 94 different countries. The event was held in the Stade du Rhône located at the Parc de Parilly in Vénissieux, in Lyon Metropolis.
The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The event was the 7th edition of what is now known as the World Para Athletics Championships, held from 21 to 31 October 2015 at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. It featured 119 men's events and 91 women's events. The Marathon events which are traditionally part of the world championships were separated from the competition and instead held on 26 April as part of the London Marathon.
The 2017 World Para Athletics Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee, held at London Stadium in London from 14 to 23 July 2017. It was the 8th edition of the event, formerly known as the IPC Athletics World Championship prior to 2017, and featured 213 medal events.
