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(CNN Spanish) -
If you continue with nostalgia because the Olympic Games are over, it is time for you to leave it behind, because we are one day away from the start of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (2021).
The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Paralympic Games will take place on Tuesday, August 24 at 07:00 am ET (6:00 am Mexico and Colombia time; 08:00 am Argentina time).
From August 24 to September 5, you will be able to see the 162 delegations that go to Tokyo compete in 23 different sports.
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There will be a lot of competitions in those days and it can surely cause a bit of confusion as multiple categories are involved in each sport.
And it is not only divided by categories in the Paralympic Games: there is also a wide diversity of disabilities that are taken into account for an athlete to compete.
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So that you can better understand the magnitude that this Olympic fair means, we leave you the following 6 points.
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1. Classification
In order for athletes to participate in the Paralympic Games, they have to be classified by a panel of two or three people, according to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The classification panel takes into account three questions to evaluate athletes who seek to compete, as expressed on the IPC page:
-Does the athlete have an eligible disability for this sport?
-Does the athlete's eligible disability meet the sport's minimum disability criteria?
-Which sport class describes with greater precision the limitation in the athlete's activity?
2. Eligible disabilities
The IPC notes that, according to the "Policy on Eligible Disabilities in the Paralympic Movement," there are 10 disabilities that are eligible when an athlete is accepted for competition.
The panel takes this as the first step in classification: athletes are evaluated to see if they meet any of these disabilities.
Here we tell you what they are and the description that indicates the CPI for each one:
Impaired muscle strength
"Reduced force generated by muscles or muscle groups, such as muscles in a limb or lower half of the body, caused, for example, by spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, or polio."
Impairment in passive range of motion
"Range of motion in one or more joints is permanently reduced, for example due to arthrogryposis. Hypermobility of the joints, joint instability and acute conditions, such as arthritis, are not considered eligible disabilities."
Limb disability
"Total or partial absence of bones or joints as a result of trauma (for example, a car accident), disease (for example, bone cancer) or a congenital deficiency in a limb (for example, dysmelia)".
Leg length difference
"Bone shortening in one leg due to congenital deficiency or trauma".
Short stature
"Reduced standing height due to abnormal dimensions of the bones of the upper and lower extremities or the trunk, for example due to achondroplasia or growth hormone dysfunction."
Hypertonia
"Abnormal increase in muscle tension and reduction in the ability of a muscle to stretch, due to a neurological condition, such as cerebral palsy, brain injury, or multiple sclerosis."
Ataxia
"Lack of coordination in muscle movements due to a neurological condition, such as cerebral palsy, brain injury, or multiple sclerosis."
Athetosis
"It is generally characterized by unbalanced and involuntary movements and a difficulty in maintaining a symmetrical posture, due to a neurological condition, such as cerebral palsy, brain injury or multiple sclerosis."
Visual disability
"Vision is affected by a deterioration of the structure of the eye, the optic nerves or optic pathways, or the visual cortex."
Intellectual disability
"A limitation in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior expressed in conceptual, social and practical adaptive skills, which originate before the age of 18".
3. Minimum disability criteria
Once an athlete is eligible for one of 10 different disabilities, the next step in the ranking is reached: the minimum disability criteria.
"The Paralympic classification rules for each sport describe how severe an eligible disability must be for an athlete to be considered eligible. These criteria are known as the minimum disability criteria," the IPC details.
This means that not all competitors are affected in the same way by their disability, so minimum criteria are established to establish a fair and similar competition in conditions.
The IPC gives as an example the disability of short stature, where the criterion of a maximum height is established to be able to compete;
or also a level of amputation for athletes with limb deficiency.
"The minimum disability criteria must be defined on the basis of scientific research, which assesses the impact of disabilities on sports activities. In this sense, it can be guaranteed that a disability impacts performance in a given sport. The minimum criteria disability are specific to sport, because the activities are different, "adds the IPC.
The criteria are defined by each Paralympic sport.
Taking this into account, the classification panel determines if the athlete is eligible for the competition.
The athlete may be eligible for one sport but not for others.
4. Not all sports include the 10 disabilities
Before moving on to the last point of the classification, it should be noted that, according to the IPC, each of the Paralympic sports defines which disabilities it gives the opportunity for competition.
Therefore, we will find sports where we can see people of all disabilities compete and others where it is only limited to some.
For example, in athletics people of all disabilities are selected, while in soccer only blind or visually impaired people compete.
5. Division by sports classes
If the classification panel determines that the athlete is eligible in one of the 10 disabilities and also meets the minimum criteria in their sport, the next step comes: the division by sport classes.
This is done in order for athletes to compete in the fairest and most similar conditions possible.
"The classification panel will evaluate which sport class you will compete in. A sport class groups athletes with a similar limitation in activity for the competition, so that they can compete fairly," explains the IPC.
Sports classes can be made up of people with different disabilities.
The point to take into account is that, if said disability causes a similar limitation, they can be part of the same sport class.
Sports like ice hockey or powerlifting only have one sport class.
In contrast, we have athletics: because it includes multiple disciplines and all disabilities, we will find a total of 52 sports classes.
6. An example about sports classes
Let's take an example to understand the above.
At the Paralympic Games, athletics is divided into three types of events: speed;
jumps and throws;
and marathon.
In the case of the 100-meter race (one of the sprinting events in athletics), there were 16 men's sports classes and 14 women's sports classes at the 2016 Rio Games.
Therefore, there were 30 different 100-meter race finals in Rio 2016, "with a total of 30 gold medals for that particular event," the official Paralympic Games website mentions.
One of the races that we can see in Tokyo 2020, for example, will be the 100 meters T11 (male / female category).
What does the T11 mean?
"Speed sports classes are expressed with the letter T, followed by a two-digit number. The tens digit indicates the type of disability, while the units digit expresses the extent of the disability (the lowest values indicate more severe disabilities) ", indicates the IPC.
The sport class T11, for example, refers to people with total visual impairment, while the T12 refers to competitors with low vision.
Athletes in the T11 class run together with a guide, and those in the T12 can run with or without a guide.
Paralympic Games