After an incredibly successful Olympics, attention is now turning to the Paralympic Games where 22 sports and over 500 events will take place over the next 11 days.
One of the most popular events at the Paralympic Games is swimming, which gets underway on Thursday morning. Athletes with various physical, intellectual, and visual impairments will compete in events including breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle.
There are different codes for each event that relate to the impairment that an athlete has. The impact it has on the athlete is ranked between one and 10 - with one being high impact and 10 being low. These are listed as S1 through to S10.
The eligible impairments for Paralympic swimmers are as follows:
- Impaired muscle power
- Involuntary movements
- Impaired passive range of movement
- Muscle tension
- Limb deficiency
- Uncoordinated movements
- Leg length difference
- Short stature
- Intellectual impairment
- Vision Impairment
Athletes with any of the above impairments can compete against each other as the sports classes are allocated based on the impact that the impairment has on their ability to swim, rather than the impairment as a stand-alone subject.
What do the 'S', 'SB', and 'SM' codes stand for?
The 'S' and 'SB' codes stand for the different events that the athletes are competing in. The 'S' code relates to either a freestyle, butterfly, or backstroke event, with 'SB' standing for the breaststroke events. The prefix 'SM' is given to the athletes who are competing in individual medley events.
Visual and intellectual impairment classes
Athletes with visual impairments are sorted into three sports classes listed from 'B1' to 'B3' - with 'B1' describing those who have very low vision or no light perception. 'B2' stands for those who have a better clarity of vision than those in 'B1', but they have a visual field of less than 10 degrees. Athletes in the 'B3' sports class have the least severe visual impairment and have a visual field of less than 40 degrees.
Those in the 'B1' sports class will be required to wear blackened goggles to ensure fair competition, and a tapper to make sure they are safe in the water. A tapper is a person who lets the swimmer know when they are approaching the end of the pool by "tapping" them.
Those in the 'B2' and 'B3' sports classes are given the option to use a tapper if they require it. In the intellectual impairment class, athletes have a restriction in their intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior. This can affect their social and practical skills in everyday life and must have been present in the athlete before the age of 18.
The 10 physical impairment sports classes that Paralympic swimmers can compete in
(SB1, S1)
Swimmers in the 'S1' sports class have a significant loss of muscle power or control in their arms, legs, and hands. Some of the athletes may also have limited trunk (chest, abdomen, pelvis, and back) control, which could be caused by tetraplegia or another condition. Swimmers in this class tend to use wheelchairs in their everyday life.
(SB1, S2)
In the 'S2' class, these athletes mainly rely on their arms for swimming as their hand, leg, and trunk function is limited. This could be down to coordination problems or a condition like tetraplegia.
(SB2, S3)
Athletes in this sports class can have amputations of both arms and/or legs. Also included in this class are swimmers with arm movement but no use of their legs or trunk, as well as athletes with severe coordination problems in all of their limbs.
(SB3, S4)
Swimmers who can use their arms and have fair function in their hands, but who cannot use their trunk or legs swim in this sport class. Athletes with amputations of three limbs could also swim in this sports class.
(SB4, S5)
This sports class includes athletes of small stature and an additional impairment, which can include loss of control over one side of their body (hemiplegia) or paraplegia.
(SB5, S6)
This sports class will include swimmers of short stature or amputations of both their arms, as well as those with moderate coordination problems on one side of their body.
(SB6, S7)
Athletes with one leg and one arm amputation will compete in this sports class, with other eligible swimming including those with a paralysis of one arm and leg on the same side. Swimmers with full control over their arms and trunk, and some leg function can also compete in this class.
(SB7, S8)
Swimmers with just one arm amputated are eligible to compete in this class, as well as athletes with significant restrictions across their hip, knee and ankle joints.
(SB8, S9)
Athletes who are eligible for this sports class swim with joint restrictions in one leg. Those with double below-the-knee amputations are also allowed to compete in this class.
(SB9, S10)
This sports class includes swimmers with minimal physical impairments - for example, those with the loss of one hand or a movement restriction in one hip joint.
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