Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing able-bodied sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have an able-bodied equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.
Frank Höfle is a disabled German biathlete and cross-country skier. He first participated in the Winter Paralympic Games in 1984 and won his first medal, a gold, in 1988. He has competed in every Winter Paralympics since then until 2010, winning a total of 21 medals, 13 of them gold. He has competed in cycling at the Summer Paralympics twice, in 1992 and 1996, and won an additional one gold and two bronze medals.
The Summer Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, organized by the International Paralympic Committee. Medals are awarded in every event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that the Olympic Games started in 1904.
Germany competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. 150 German athletes, 88 men and 62 women, participated in London.
Raoua Tlili is a Paralympian athlete from Tunisia competing mainly in category F41 shot put and discus events and is a multi gold medalist at the Paralympics.
Menggenjimisu or, in Mongolian, Mönggönjimis is a Paralympian athlete of short stature from China competing in category F40 shot put and discus events. Menggenjimisu won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics F40 Discus competing under the name Jimisu Menggen. At the London Paralympics she was billed as Genjimisu Meng.
Laila El Garaa is a Paralympian athlete from Morocco competing mainly in category F40 shot put events.
Najat El Garaa is a Paralympian athlete from Morocco competing mainly in category F40 discus throw events.
Para-athletics classification is a system to determine which athletes with disabilities may compete against each other in para-athletics events. Classification is intended to group together athletes with similar levels of physical ability to allow fair competition. Classification was created and is managed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which is regularly published via its IPC Athletics Classification Handbook. People with physical, vision and intellectual disabilities are eligible to compete in this sport at the Summer Paralympics. The classification for this sport was created during the 1940s and for much of its early history was a medical condition based classification system. The classification system has subsequently become a functional mobility based one, and is moving towards an evidence-based classification system.
Ihar Boki is a visually impaired Belarusian Paralympic swimmer. He competed at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Paralympics and won 16 gold medals. As of February 2013, he holds the S13 long course world records in 100, 200 and 400 metre freestyle, 50 and 100 metre backstroke and 200 metres individual medley events. In 2018, he was named the World Disabled Male Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World.
Mario Hochberg was a Paralympic weightlifter for Germany. His coach was Thomas Mersdorf and he is a sports instructor and physiotherapist head coach weightlifting in DBS.
Scott Danberg is a Paralympic athlete from Florida in the United States competing in F40 events. Danberg has appeared in five Paralympics representing America in track and field, swimming and powerlifting.
Germany competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places the team qualified were for four athletes in sailing events. They also qualified athletes in archery, cycling, equestrian, paracanoeing, paratriathlon, rowing and wheelchair basketball.
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.
Jonathan de Souza Santos is a Paralympian athlete from Brazil competing mainly in F41 classification throwing events.
Lauritta Onye is a Paralympian athlete who competes in F40 classification throwing events. She competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro winning gold in the F40 shot put. Onye is also an actress, performing under the name Laury White.
Lara Baars is a Dutch Paralympic athlete competing in shot put and discus throw events. She was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism.
Rima Abdelli is a Tunisian Paralympic athlete of short stature and she competes in F40-classification events. She represented Tunisia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and she won the silver medal in the women's shot put F40 event. In 2019, she qualified to represent Tunisia at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Lucas Ludwig is a former German Paralympic swimmer who competed in international level events. He is a double European champion and a World bronze medalist, he has competed at the Paralympic Games twice but did not medal in his events.
Natalie Simanowski is a German retired Paralympic cyclist who competed at international elite competitions. She is a triple world champion in cycling and a double Paralympic silver medalist. Simanowski was a former middle-distance runner.
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