The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games feature 22 sports and 549 events, and a huge number of medals to be won. The reason why there are so many events to watch is that the disciplines are divided into several categories, according to the disabilities of the parasporters.
Blind and visually impaired athletes don't compete with single-leg amputees. Riders with disabilities of all limbs do not compete with those with only one arm or one leg. Different categories are set up to ensure fair competition between athletes.
An important classification is used to sort these events: letters and numbers are associated with each disability category. A system that may seem obscure to the uninitiated, but is not so difficult to understand. To help you follow these Paralympic Games and understand everything about the events, here's a short guide.
Numbers and letters: not a game show, but the basics of this ranking system. The letter corresponds to the name of the sport: S for swimming, PR for para rowing, SH for shooting...
The number(s) indicate the level of disability. Smaller numbers refer to greater disabilities, larger numbers to lesser disabilities. Thus, 1 is the heaviest handicap, 4 or 5 the lightest handicap accepted in this sport.
And when there are several figures? In athletics and swimming, there are athletes with different disabilities. For example, there are classifications such as T32. Here, the T stands for Track, covering both running and jumping events. The 3 (tens digit) indicates the type of handicap: blindness, mental handicap, limb amputation, wheelchair athlete... The 2 (units) indicates the degree of disability (more or less severe).
To find out more about the categories for each Paralympic sport, visit the official website.
