Wednesday 29 August 2012

London 2012 Paralympics : Guide to sports for the blind

The London 2012 Paralympics was launched tonight with the opening ceremony.  After the huge success of the Olympics this is the chance for the biggest Paralympics ever to shine.  To the athletes their disability is almost incidental: it;s not about their disability but about their ABILTY, what they CAN do.
This is a guide to the main sports to be competed by blind and visually impaired athletes.  There may be some level of sight loss in other sports but these are the sports where visual impairment categorizes them for these events:

Athletics

Athletes must trust guides that shouting or giving other acoustic instructions as they run, throw or jump.  Some athlet6es have sighted guides that run with them whilst others are visually impaired with limited vision.  Each different level of impairment runs/throws.jumps in different categories.

Cycling

Visually impaired cyclists ride tandem with a sighted pilot up front steering them around the track.

Football – five-a-side

Four outfield players - wearing blindfolds to give everyone the same level of visual impairment - and a sighted goalkeeper compete two halves of 25 minutes.  The ball has ball bearings inside, so players can hear where the balls is and the pitch is surround by acoustic boards so sounds reflect – the crowd is asked to be quiet during play.

Goalball

Two teams of three blindfolded players play two halves of 12 minutes.  Teams must get a medicine ball full of bells beyond the opposing team to score.  The defending team uses any part of their body to prevent the attack.

Judo

In the Paralympics Judo is reserved purely for the visually impaired.  Although graded on levels of visual impairment competitors fight in weight categories, rather than disability level.

Rowingg

Skulls are adapted with additional stabilising "pontoons", buoyancy devices to aid balance.

Swimming

A number of events based on severity of disability. For the visually impaired a taper is placed across each lane which prompts swimmers of the approach of the wall.