Malta at the 2012 Summer Paralympics | |
---|---|
![]() | |
IPC code | MLT |
NPC | Malta Federation of Sports Associations for Disabled Persons |
in London | |
Competitors | 1 in 1 sport |
Flag bearer | Matthew Sultana |
Medals |
|
Summer Paralympics appearances (overview) | |
Malta sent a delegation to compete at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. This was the country's eighth appearance in a Summer Paralympic Games. The Maltese delegation consisted of a single short-distance swimmer: Matthew Sultana. In his three events, the men's 50 metres freestyle S10, the men's 100 metre butterfly S10 and the men's 100 metre breaststroke SB9, he failed to qualify beyond the first round.
Malta debuted in the Paralympic movement at the 1960 Summer Paralympics. Excepting the period between 1988 and 2004, the island country had participated in eight Summer Paralympic Games and medalled a total of seven times in athletics, lawn bowls, snooker and table tennis. [1] The 2012 Summer Paralympics were held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 with a total of 4,237 athletes representing 164 National Paralympic Committees. [2] Matthew Sultana, a short-distance swimmer, was the sole athlete to represent Malta at the London Summer Paralympics; [3] he was chosen as the country's flag bearer for the parade of nations during the opening ceremony. [4] He and his coach Ebi Mohammadpour travelled to London on 30 August. [5] Marathon runner Derren Fenech met the minimum qualifying standards for his event; a number of athletes who had times lower than three hours created an upper limit on participants and forced him to withdraw. [3]
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories: amputation, which may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, though there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; and Les autres, which is any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, like dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. [6] [7] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities. Other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability. [8]
At the time of the London Paralympics Matthew Sultana was 15 years old and was the only athlete to compete for Malta. [5] He attained qualification to the Games by winning three age-group medals at an international meet in Berlin. [3] Sultana has an upper limb deformity, [5] and is classified S10 by the International Paralympic Committee. [3] He trained with the non-government organisation Inspire for two and a half years and entered a classification race on 28 August to enable his participation. [5] Sultana said his young age was unimportant and he entered the Paralympics to improve his personal best, "I want to shave off one second to 29 seconds in the 50m freestyle and possibly finish the 100m butterfly race in 1.20 or 1.19 instead of the present 1.24. I am here and it’s more than enough. I want to continue training to be ready for the next Paralympics in four years’ time." [5]
On 31 August, he competed in the men's 50 metres freestyle S10 competition and was assigned to take part in heat two. [9] Sultana completed the heat in seventh place in a new personal best time of 31.12 seconds. [10] This put him 21st (and last) overall and he did not qualify for the final—the eight overall fastest swimmers made that stage of the competition. [9] Sultana took part in the men's 100 metre butterfly S10 event the following day, being drawn into heat three. He finished the race in a time of 1 minute and 16.94 seconds and placed eighth in his heat. As only the top eight overall finishers could advance to the final, Sultana was eliminated from the competition. [11] On 8 September, he participated in the men's 100 metre breaststroke SB9 contest. Sultana was drawn into heat two and completed the race in sixth position in a time of 1 minute and 36.89 seconds. His competition ended since he was slowest overall and only the top eight swimmers progressed to the final. [12]
Athletes | Event | Heat | Final | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time | Rank | Time | Rank | ||
Matthew Sultana | 50m freestyle S10 | 31.12 PB | 20 | Did not advance [10] [9] | |
100m breaststroke SB9 | 1:36.89 | 16 | Did not advance [12] | ||
100m butterfly S10 | 1:16.94 | 21 | Did not advance [11] |
Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 29 medals. She has also won over 50 world championship medals.
Theresa Goh Rui SiBBM is a Singaporean swimmer and Paralympic medalist, with a bronze at the SB4 100m breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She holds the world records for the SB4 50 metres and 200 metres breaststroke events.
Daniel de Faria Dias is a Brazilian Paralympic swimmer. Having learnt to swim in 2004 after being inspired by Clodoaldo Silva at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, he entered his first international competition two years later winning five medals. He competed in a wide range of swimming events at the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Paralympics and won 27 medals, including 14 gold medals.
Brenden Hall, is an Australian Paralympic amputee swimmer who won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal. He competed at 2020 Summer Paralympics, his fourth games.
Matthew John Levy, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.
S8, SB7, SM8 are disability swimming classifications used for categorizing swimmers based on their level of disability. 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.
S6, SB5, SM6 are disability swimming classifications used for categorising swimmers based on their level of disability. This class includes people with a number of different types of disability including short stature, major limb impairment or loss in two limbs. This includes people with cerebral palsy, people with dwarfism and amputees. The class competes at the Paralympic Games.
S5, SB4, SM5 are disability swimming classifications used for categorizing swimmers based on their level of disability. The class includes people with a moderate level of disability, and includes people with full use of their arms and hands, but limited to no use of their trunk and legs. It also includes people with coordination problems. A variety of disabilities are represented by this class including people with cerebral palsy. The class competes at the Paralympic Games.
S1, SB1, SM1 are disability swimming classifications used for categorising swimmers based on their level of disability. The classifications cover athletes with "very severe coordination problems in four limbs or have no use of their legs, trunk, hands and minimal use of their shoulders only". Swimmers in this class have a variety of different disabilities including cerebral palsy.
S13, SB13, SM13 are disability swimming classifications used for categorising swimmers based on their level of disability. Jane Buckley, writing for the Sporting Wheelies, describes the swimmers in this classification as having: "Swimmers who are the most sighted but are considered to be blind according to the IBSA B3."
S11, SB11, SM11 are disability swimming classifications for blind swimmers.
Richard Eliason is an Australian swimmer. He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming. He has an intellectual disability and was among the first intellectually disabled athletes to compete in the Paralympics after the 2000 Summer Paralympics intellectual disability controversy. While he did not receive a medal at the Games, he placed 5th in the final. He is a recipient of the Service to Australian Swim Team award.
Kayla Clarke is an Indigenous Australian swimmer who represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming, and has medalled at the 2010 Australian Disability Age Group Nationals, and 2010 International Paralympic Swimming World Championships, 2009 Queensland State Championships, 2009 Queensland Secondary School Titles, and 2009 Global Games. She competes in a number of events, including the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
Tanya Huebner is an Australian swimmer. She has represented Australia at the 2012 London and the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
North Korea made its Paralympic Games début at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, sending a single wildcard representative to compete in swimming.
Mauritius sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7–18 September 2016. This was the fifth time the country had taken part in a Paralympic Games after its debut at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The Mauritian delegation to Rio de Janeiro consisted of two athletes: wheelchair racer Brandy Perrine and short-distance swimmer Scody Victor. The nation's best result was tenth overall by Perrine in the women's 100 metres T54 event as both competitors did not progress to the final in their respective competitions.
Malta competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 7 to 18 September 2016. The country's participation in Rio marked its ninth appearance at the quadrennial event with the exception of the years between 1988 and 2004. The delegation consisted of one short-distance swimmer, Vladyslava Kravchenko, who was announced as the country's representative in April 2016. She was chosen as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony. Kravchenko competed in three swimming events but failed to advance into the final of each event as her times in her respective competitions were not fast enough to qualify for the later stages of each contest.
Montenegro sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the nation's third time competing at a Paralympic Games since it became independent from its federation with Serbia in June 2006. Montenegro was represented by two athletes in Rio de Janeiro: shot putter and discus thrower Marijana Goranović and short-distance swimmer Ilija Tadić. Goranović competed in two events in field and her best finish was in the women's shot put F41 competition, where she came eighth. Tadić took part in two swimming events and his best performance was in the men's 50 metre freestyle S9 tournament, where he placed 14th overall and did not advance to the final.
Cyprus sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the island country's eighth consecutive appearance in a Summer Paralympiad having made its debut at the 1988 Summer Paralympics. The Cypriot delegation to Rio de Janeiro consisted of two athletes: sprinter Antonis Aresti and short-distance swimmer Karolina Pelendritou. Aresti placed sixth overall in the men's 400 metres T47 event and Pelendritou came fourth in the 100 metres breaststroke SB13 competition after losing the bronze medal by 20 cm (7.9 in) in the final.