The Paralympics is a major international multi-sport event involving athletes with a range of disabilities, including impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2016, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 526 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about 72 events. The number and kinds of events may change from one Paralympic Games to another.
Cheating at the Paralympic Games has caused scandals that have significantly changed the way in which the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) manages the events.
Paralympic athletics is a disabled sport practiced by athletes with a physical disability who have competed at separate international events since 1952. It is governed by the International Paralympic Committee through its World Para Athletics subcommittee, and has been one of the sports at the Summer Paralympic Games since 1960.
The World Para Athletics Championships, known as the IPC Athletics World Championships prior to 2017, are a biennial Paralympic athletics event organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It features athletics events contested by athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities. The first IPC Athletics World Championships were held in Berlin, Germany in 1994.
INAS was established in 1986 by professionals in the Netherlands who were involved in sport and wanted to promote the participation of athletes with mental handicap in elite sport. The organisations brand name is the International Federation for Intellectual Impairment Sport, promoting sport worldwide for athletes with an Intellectual Disability, Autism and Down's Syndrome.
Kath Proudfoot is a cerebral palsy athlete from Australia competing mainly in throwing events. She competed in the F36 classification at the 2008, 2012 and the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning medals at each Game. Following a medical review request in early 2017, she now competes in seated throws in the F32 classification. At the 2017 Australian Athletics Championships she threw 7.04m in the Women's Shot Put Secured event, bettering the Women's F32 shot put world record mark of 6.55m.
T20 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics in track and jump events. It broadly covers athletes with intellectual disabilities.
T35 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics' running competitions. It includes people who have coordination impairments such as hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis. This includes people with cerebral palsy. The classification is used at the Paralympic Games. The corresponding F35 classification includes club and discus throw, shot put, and javelin.
T40 is disability sport classification for disability athletics, specifically athletes of short stature. Male athletes under 130 cm and female athletes under 125 cm can compete in this category.
José Antonio Expósito Pineiro is a Paralympic athlete from Spain.
The 2012 IPC Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe. It was held in Stadskanaal, Netherlands and lasted from 23 to 28 June. The event was held in the Stadskanaal Stadium and was the last major European disability athletics event before the forthcoming 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. Approximately 550 athletes from 38 countries attended the games. Several countries used the Championships to finalise the remaining places for the Paralympics.
The World Para Swimming European Championships, known until 2018 as the IPC Swimming European Championships, are the European continental championships for swimming where athletes with a disability compete. Each Championship is organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and behind the World Para Swimming Championships and the Summer Paralympic Games is the largest meet for European athletes.
The World Para Powerlifting Championships, known before 30 November 2016 as the IPC Powerlifting World Championships, is an event organized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Competitors with a physical disability compete, and in a few events athletes with an intellectual disability compete. First held in 1994, the competition is held every four years.
The 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships was an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Glasgow, United Kingdom and took place from 13 to 19 July. Around 580 athletes from around 70 different countries competed at the games, with Russia topping the tables with most gold medals and medals won. The event was held at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre located within Tollcross Park in Glasgow. Initially awarded as the IPC Swimming European Championships, the event was upgraded to a World Championship after a change to the IPC calendar.
T41 is disability sport classification for disability athletics. It is used in track athlete and has a sister classification F41 for field athletes. This is a classification for athletes with short stature.
Barbara Niewiedział is a Paralympian athlete from Poland competing mainly in category T20 sprint and middle distance events. She is a two time Paralympic gold medalist in the 800m (2000) and 1,500 metres (2012) races and has won four World Athletic titles.
Nicholas "Nic" Hum is an Australian Paralympic athlete with an intellectual disability. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
The 2018 World Para Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe. It was held in Berlin, Germany and took place between the 20th and 26th August 2018 at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. 596 athletes from 35 countries competed during the championships.
