| Kenya at the 2004 Summer Paralympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IPC code | KEN |
| NPC | Kenya National Paralympic Committee |
| in Athens | |
| Competitors | 16 in 1 sport |
| Medals Ranked 37th |
|
| Summer Paralympics appearances (overview) | |
Kenya competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. Their delegation included 16 athletes, 8 men and 8 women, who won 3 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals. Institutional problems inside Kenyan elite disability sport impact the country's performance at the Paralympic Games.
The Kenyan delegation included 8 men and 8 women. [1] [2] The 2004 Games were the ones with the largest number of women representing Kenya in the country's Paralympic history. [2]
A number of factors have impacted the development of elite disability sport in Kenya in this period. One factor was negative cultural attitudes towards people with disabilities in general that made it difficult to participate, even if the athlete had won a Commonwealth Games medal. A second variable was coaching issues. These included poor qualifications for coaches, lack of funding for coaches, inconsistent coaching or coaches having hidden agendas for being involved in para-sport, such as a desire to travel overseas. A third issue was lack of available equipment to train with. Part of this was because of the high cost of specialized equipment. Another part was a desire not to spend money on people with disabilities as they are less worthy of the funding. A fourth issue is that facilities are often not accessible to people with disabilities. Sometimes, venues do not want to let people with disabilities use them. Sometimes, facilities lack accommodations for people with disabilities. A fifth problem was transportation. Transportation around cities is often not handicap accessible, making it difficult for elite athletes to get to training venues. Ethnic favoritism was a sixth problem impacting elite para-sport. There was a perception among elite athletes that the government and sporting officials favored certain ethnic groups. According to one elite athlete, for the 2000 Games, the team was dominated by ethnic Luo. For the 2004 Games, the trend was towards ethnic Kikuyu. In athletics, the preference tended to be towards Kalenjin. The last major issue was lack of financial support for participating in sport at the elite level. More Kenyans would have tried to represent their country at the Paralympic level, but they were unable to afford it despite the desire to do so. [3] [4]
The above existed against a broad issue about perceptions in Black Africa about people with disabilities. In many parts of Black Africa, people who have disabilities that include intellectual disabilities, and physical disabilities such as impairments and deformities often face cultural barriers to participation because of attitudes related to their disabilities. These include beliefs that they acquired their disabilities because their parents were witches or they are wizards. Their disability is often seen as a result of a personal failing on their part. As such, there is often tremendous cultural pressure for people with physical disabilities to remain hidden and out of the public eye. In many places, they are perceived to be monsters in need of healing. [3] [4] [5] [6] In a Kenyan context, the "bad blood" of people with disabilities is thought to also impact their families, creating further stigma for the person with the disability. [6]
| Medal | Name | Sport | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
 Gold | Henry Wanyoike | Athletics | Men's 5000m T11 |
| Gold | Joseph Ngorialuk | Athletics | Men's 5000m T13 |
| Gold | Henry Wanyoike | Athletics | Men's 10000m T11 |
 Silver | Julia Longorkaye | Athletics | Women's 1500m T12 |
 Bronze | Emanuel Asinikal | Athletics | Men's 1500m T13 |
| Bronze | Frangs Karanja | Athletics | Men's 5000m T11 |
| Bronze | Emanuel Asinikal | Athletics | Men's 5000m T12 |
| Athlete | Class | Event | Heats | Semifinal | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | |||
| Emanuel Asinikal | T12 | 1500m | 4:04.19 | 9 q | N/A | 3:54.74 | | |
| 5000m | N/A | 15:09.67 | | |||||
| Andrew A. Auma | T12 | 400m | DSQ | did not advance | ||||
| 800m | 1:57.31 | 1 Q | N/A | 1:55.75 | 4 | |||
| T13 | 1500m | 4:13.97 | 14 | did not advance | ||||
| Frangs Karanja | T11 | 1500m | N/A | 4:25.89 | 6 | |||
| 5000m | N/A | 16:05.38 | | |||||
| Duncan Kipkemei | T12 | 400m | 54.56 | 11 | did not advance | |||
| 800m | 2:03.51 | 9 | did not advance | |||||
| T13 | 1500m | 4:18.05 | 19 | did not advance | ||||
| Joseph Ngorialuk | T13 | 5000m | N/A | 15:21.25 | | |||
| Marathon | N/A | 2:49:08 | 7 | |||||
| Henry Wanyoike | T11 | 5000m | N/A | 15:11.07 WR | | |||
| 10000m | N/A | 31:37.25 WR | | |||||
| Athlete | Class | Event | Heats | Semifinal | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | |||
| Julia Longorkaye | T12 | 400m | 1:07.66 | 11 | did not advance | |||
| 800m | 2:24.22 | 7 | did not advance | |||||
| 1500m | N/A | 4:41.71 | | |||||
| Nelly Munialo | T12 | 100m | 14.54 | 15 | did not advance | |||
| 200m | 29.22 | 11 | did not advance | |||||
| Eunice Njoroge | T36 | 100m | N/A | 22.18 | 8 | |||
| 200m | N/A | 46.21 | 8 | |||||
| Athlete | Class | Event | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Points | Rank | |||
| Phelomena Chepkoech | F56-58 | Discus | 16.78 | 709 | 15 |
| Javelin | 18.10 | 875 | 7 | ||
| Shot put | 6.47 | 782 | 15 | ||
| Alice Kibue | F32-34/51-53 | Discus | 8.49 | 614 | 10 |
| F32-34/52/53 | Shot put | 2.94 | 854 | 10 | |
| F33/34/52/53 | Javelin | 5.76 | 679 | 10 | |
| Christine Rongoe | F56-58 | Javelin | 9.44 | 456 | 14 |
| Mary Zakayo | F56-58 | Discus | 17.34 | 559 | 18 |
| Javelin | 17.68 | 707 | 12 | ||
| Shot put | 8.03 | 971 | 10 | ||
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samson Abayyo Okutto | 56kg | 140.0 | 7 |
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics 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 International Paralympic Committee is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports. Founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, West Germany, its mission is to "enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world". Furthermore, the IPC wants to promote the Paralympic values and to create sport opportunities for all persons with a disability, from beginner to elite level.
Kenya competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics. They were represented by 13 sportspeople, 5 women and 8 men, at the Sydney, Australia hosted Games. Kenyan Paralympians won four medals at these games, one gold, one silver and two bronze.
Nigeria competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, sending a 31-member strong delegation that won 13 medals, 7 of which were gold.
Nigeria competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The team included 14 athletes, 6 men and 8 women. Competitors from Nigeria won 12 medals, including 5 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze.
S10, SB9, SM10 are disability swimming classifications used for categorizing swimmers based on their level of disability. Swimmers in this class tend to have minimal weakness affecting their legs, missing feet, a missing leg below the knee or problems with their hips. This class includes a number of different disabilities including people with amputations and cerebral palsy. The classification is governed by the International Paralympic Committee, and competes at the Paralympic Games.
T44 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics, applying to "Single below knee amputation or an athlete who can walk with moderately reduced function in one or both legs." It includes ISOD A4 and A9 classes.
T46 and F46 are disability sport classification for disability athletics. People in this class have a single below or above the elbow amputation. The amputee sports equivalent class is ISOD the A6 and A8 classes. People in this class can have injuries as a result of over use of their remaining upper limb. The classification process to be included in this class has four parts: a medical exam, observation during training, observation during competition and then being classified into this class.
Para-swimming classification is a function-based classification system designed to allow for fair competition in disability swimming. The classes are prefixed with "S" for freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events, "SB" for breaststroke and "SM" for individual medley events. Swimmers with physical disabilities are divided into ten classes based on their degree of functional disability: S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9 and S10. The lower number indicates a greater degree of impairment. Those with visual impairments are placed in three additional classes: S11, S12 and S13. One more class, S14, is reserved for swimmers with intellectual impairment. A final class, S15, is for athletes with hearing loss.
Kenya competed at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The country sent a 17 strong athlete delegation to Atlanta, United States.
8 male athletes from Nigeria competed at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, United States.
Nigeria competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom from 29 August – 9 September 2012. Nigerian Paralympians combined won more medals than their Olympic counterparts in London, winning 6 golds, 5 silvers and 2 bronze medals.
Kenya competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Nigeria competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. Nigeria's delegation of 23 sportspeople was mostly composed of powerlifters, with the country sending 14 lifters to Rio. Ahead of the Rio Games, the National Sports Commission promised Paralympic medals to erase the country's Olympic shame.
Nigeria competed at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, Spain, making their Paralympic debut. 6 competitors from Nigeria won 3 medals, all gold, and so finished 33rd the medal table. They competed in athletics, table tennis and powerlifting. Adeoye Ajibola was the country's big success story of these Games, going on to represent Nigeria in non-disability athletics and coming within a second of the men's non-disability 100m world record. Monday Emoghawve was the country's other gold medal winner in Barcelona, claiming gold in men's powerlifting.
T47 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics primarily for competitors with a below elbow or wrist amputation or impairment. T47 is a classification for track events but unlike the other T40 to T46 classifications it has no equivalent F47 classification for field events. The amputee sports equivalent class is ISOD the A8 class. People in this class can have injuries as a result of over use of their remaining upper limb.
CP5 is a disability sport classification specific to cerebral palsy. In many sports, it is grouped inside other classifications to allow people with cerebral palsy to compete against people with other different disabilities but the same level of functionality. Sportspeople in this class have greater functional control of their upper body, and are generally ambulant with the use of an assistive device. Quick movements can upset their balance.
CP6 is a disability sport classification specific to cerebral palsy. In many sports, it is grouped inside other classifications to allow people with cerebral palsy to compete against people with other different disabilities but the same level of functionality. Sportspeople in this class are ambulatory, and able to walk without the use of an assistive device. Their bodies are constantly in motion. The running form of people in this class is often better than their form while walking.
Les Autres sport classification is system used in disability sport for people with locomotor disabilities not included in other classification systems for people with physical disabilities. The purpose of this system is to facilitate fair competition between people with different types of disabilities, and to give credibility to disability sports. It was designed and managed by International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD) until the 2005 merger with IWAS, when management switched to that organization. Classification is handled on the national level by relevant sport organizations.
Intellectual disability sport classification is a classification system used for disability sport that allows people with intellectual disabilities to fairly compete with and against other people with intellectual disabilities. Separate classification systems exist for the elite athlete with a disability side affiliated with the Paralympic movement and Virtus, and the sports for all model affiliated with Special Olympics. People with intellectual disabilities have issues with conceptual skills, social skills and practical skills. They have IQs of 75 points or lower, limitations in adaptive behaviour and their disability manifested and was documented prior to turning 18 years of age.