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After the success of the London Olympics there's
unprecedented excitement about the Paralympics. But what are the
differences between the two sets of Games?
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No Olympic rings
It may sound similar, and end in "lympic", but the Paralympics are not
the Olympics. The iconic interlocking rings have no place here.
Instead there is the Agitos, the three swoops in red, green and blue
that represent the Paralympic motto "spirit in motion".
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The IOC and the IPC are different
The two Games - and the International Olympic Committee and
International Paralympics Committee - are separate entities. The first
international Paralympic Games took place in Rome, a week after the 1960
Summer Olympic Games were held there. In 1964, they were held in Tokyo,
again just after the Olympics.
But in 1968, Mexico City, the host city of that year's Olympics, refused
to host the Paralympics. They were instead held in Tel Aviv and from
then until 1988, the Paralympics continued to be held in locations
completely separate to the Olympics.
Then in 1988, Olympics hosts Seoul took on the Paralympics, and they
have been held together ever since. In 2001, it became official, and now
host cities have to bid for both.
There are rumours that one day the two might merge, but opinions are
split on the merits of such a move.
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Classifications
At the Paralympics, you don't have a blind runner competing against one
with cerebral palsy - but you may have a person with cerebral palsy
competing against someone with restricted growth, which is perhaps a
less obvious match.
In order to stream the athletes, they have to go through vigorous
testing of function and movement from a sporting medical professional
who then gives them a classification.
Swimming has 14 classes. S1-S10 are variations on physical impairments
with 10 being least disabled - it covers everything from amputees and
spinal cord injuries to someone with dwarfism. S11-S13 are allocated to
visual impairments and S14 for those with an intellectual disability.
The S-class refers only to freestyle, backstroke and butterfly whereas
SB is breast stroke and SM is individual medley.
An athlete classified as a 9 in freestyle could be a 10 in butterfly -
you are classified according to the stroke you're using as swimming on
your back could prove more challenging for you depending on your
impairment mix. Classifications are also affected depending on whether
you have the ability to dive in or start a race from within the pool.
The knock-on effect of having more classifications is that this year's
Paralympic swimming as a whole has 148 gold medals up for grabs compared
with 34 at the Olympics.
Classifications can be controversial. "There are some who try to cheat
their class," says former Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.
"When they deliberately cheat it's the same as taking drugs. But some do
just fall one side or other of a line and can move up and down between
classes."
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Sports that are the same but different
Although there are sports that only disabled people play, you'll
recognise most of the events at the Paralympics.
Swimming, cycling and athletics will happen in a similar way to their
Olympic equivalents, albeit split into many different classifications,
and with added prosthetics, wheelchairs and human guides.
Spectators at sports like wheelchair rugby, sitting volleyball and blind
football, who are familiar with their able-bodied equivalents, will
quickly realise that the Paralympic versions bear little resemblance to
the sports they know and love.
The ball used in blind football is less bouncy than a regular one and
contains ball bearings to make it audible.
It is played on a hard surface by two teams of five players. The area of
play is smaller than in regular football and is surrounded by boards.
The boards not only stop the ball from going out, but also reflect
sounds from the ball and from footsteps, which helps players to
orientate themselves on the pitch.
Outfield players, blind or partially sighted, wear eye covers to level
the playing field. The goalkeeper is fully sighted but is not allowed to
leave his area. A "guide", also sighted, directs players from behind the
goal.
In the absence of visual communication between players, they use
specific terms. Shouts of "voy" - the Spanish word literally meaning "I
go" but idiomatically "I'm here" - act as a warning that one player is
about to tackle another. Teams rely heavily on numerous audible clues,
so spectators must stay silent during play.
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Sports unique to the Paralympics
There are two sports which are exclusive to the Paralympics - goalball
and boccia.
Goalball is played by two teams of three blind and visually impaired
athletes, on an indoor rectangular court with tactile markings.
The object is to throw a heavy ball filled with bells into the opposing
team's net, while defenders try to block its progress with their bodies.
Boccia features some of the most disabled athletes at the Games.
Although it is played competitively in more than 50 countries, it is one
of the least well-known Paralympic sports.
A bit like bowls, boccia takes place on an indoor court. Playing
individually, in pairs or in teams, athletes roll, throw or kick the
balls, aiming to land them close to a target.
It was originally introduced as a game for people with cerebral palsy,
but over the years, boccia has been extended to include players with a
variety of disabilities affecting motor skills.
Boccia has four disability classifications, BC1 to BC4.
The BC3 class players are unable to propel the ball themselves, so a
lightweight ramp is put in place to aid its movement towards the target.
"[BC3 players] are allowed to have an assistant on court with them,"
says ParalympicsGB boccia team captain Nigel Murray.
"The person who is their assistant has their back to the court so they
are unable to see any of the play and they're totally directed in the
movement of the ramp by the athlete".
Some players communicate with their assistant through blinking or head
movements.
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Accessibility
It took five days to turn the Olympic Village into the Paralympic
Village.
The venues have increased their wheelchair capacity by removing and
rearranging the existing seating - the stadium will have 568 spaces
compared with 394 during the Olympics. Blind spectators will be supplied
with audio guides, while those with hearing impairments will be seated
with a direct view of large screens so they can follow the action.
"The village did have to be Paralympified," says director of Paralympic
integration Chris Holmes.
"It was planned from the start. The bathrooms, the signage, the pavement
have been fully accessible from the beginning."
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Tappers
One of the most important aids to the blind swimmer is the tapper.
Standing at each end of the pool is a person holding a long pole with a
soft circular ball on the end. As the swimmer approaches they are tapped
on the head.
It is a sign to the swimmer that the end of the pool is approaching, and
the confidence gained by the tapper's presence means the swimmer can
move at full pelt without fearing a painful crash at the end.
"The pole looks a bit like a fishing rod," says Marcelo Sugimori, one of
two tappers in the Brazilian Paralympic team. Sugimori used to tap for
his sister Fabiana, who won gold in the 50m freestyle in Athens 2004. He
now works with the team's two other blind and partially sighted
swimmers.
"We tap the swimmer when they are between two and four metres from the
end of the pool," he adds.
"It takes a lot of training together, and a lot of trust."
He says that he aims for a single tap, ideally on the head or upper
back.
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Guide runners for blind athletes
Blind and partially sighted runners can compete with a guide. Usually
tethered to the athlete by a rope, a guide runs with them, acting as
their eyes.
Sprinters Tracy Hinton and Libby Clegg will represent ParalympicsGB in
this way.
Clegg, who runs the 200m and 100m, maintains contact with her guide
Mikail Huggins, using a loop of physiotherapy tubing, bound in the
middle with electrical tape.
She described the process of running with a guide as, "a bit like doing
the three-legged race but attached by your hands rather than your feet".
"To execute the run properly you need to be smooth and in time, with
both the pace and the stride length correct."
Clegg can run 100m in 12.41 seconds.
The guide talks throughout the race, explaining to the athlete where
they are on the track, flagging up bends and making a call on whether or
not the athlete should accelerate, hold the pace or relax. They are
allocated a lane each.
The totally blind runners, T11 class, will always have a guide, but
those categorised as T12 - who have some sight - can choose.
Most blind or visually impaired female runners partner with male guides,
as the guide must have the ability to go faster than the athlete.
The golden rule of guide running is not to cross the line before the
athlete, a crime punishable by disqualification. Both Clegg and Hinton
have lost out on past medals when their guide unintentionally pipped
them to the post.
But it is not just runners who use a guide.
Blind athletes competing in the long jump and triple jump also use
guides, though here they stay stationary, shouting commands, clapping
and directing athletes through the jump.
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Age
Viewers new to the Paralympics may notice there are a number of athletes
who excel in their field despite being a little older than you might
expect sportsmen and women to be.
At Wimbledon this year, commentators were questioning how long Roger
Federer could continue at champion level being as he was then the ripe
old age of 30. At the Paralympics, however, we find that GB's wheelchair
tennis champ Peter Norfolk is 51. Norfolk won gold in Athens and
Beijing, is presently ranked third in the world and will be the flag
bearer for ParalympicsGB at the opening ceremony.
Much was made of older Olympians as well this year. Hiroshi Hoketsu
competed in the dressage at 71. Gymnast Yordan Yovchev, 39, finished
seventh in the final of the men's rings. Yamile Aldama, 40, competed for
Team GB in the triple jump. In sports like equestrianism and shooting
there are plenty of competitors over the age of 40.
But the effect is more pronounced in the Paralympics. GB blind football
captain David Clarke is 41, boccia's Nigel Murray is 48, archer Kate
Murray 63, discus thrower Derek Derenalagi is in his first Paralympics
at 38 and the athletics captain and runner Tracey Hinton is 42.
Athletes may have excelled later than their non-disabled counterparts as
a result of choosing to use sport as part of their rehabilitation after
acquiring a disability, like Afghanistan veteran Derenalagi.
Other reasons are a little more complicated. The pool of disabled
athletes is smaller than that of the Olympics due to lack of opportunity
- be that about physical access to sporting facilities or lack of
imagination from PE teachers or those supporting disabled people in
their development. Self-esteem or simple lack of hands-on experience
might mean it never really enters the minds of many who could be
extremely capable if supported.
Head of the British Paralympic Association Tim Hollingsworth
acknowledges the age differences and says: "The routes into the sport
for new athletes are more varied and less predictable than those who've
been doing nothing but their sport until this age."
Hollingsworth hopes that the Games will inspire disabled people,
non-disabled PE teachers and those in charge to appreciate the
possibilities out there.
Hollingsworth is keen to point to a general diversity of age in the GB
squad. At the other end of the scale we have wheelchair fencer Gabi Down
at 14, sitting volleyball's Julie Rogers at 13 and swimmers Chloe
Davies, 13, and Amy Marren, 14.
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Drug testing
Paralympic athletes are subject to the same list of banned substances as
Olympic athletes. Anyone who requires additional medication for pain or
treatment must apply for an exemption.
Each application will be considered on an individual basis by a medical
committee. The same goes for Olympic athletes.
"It's a common misconception that a lot of Paralympians will be on
prescription drugs. That's not the case at all," says Nicole Sapstead,
director of operations at UK Anti-Doping.
"Obviously there are athletes with spinal injuries and they need pain
relief. But mostly it is the same as the Olympics - things like asthma
and diabetes."
Therapeutic Use Exemptions are granted with a defined dosage for a
specific period of time.
The banned substances are the same in both the Paralympics and the
Olympics, and athletes on prescription medication must prove that there
is no suitable alternative that they could take instead.
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