New Zealand at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
Template:Infobox Paralympics New Zealand
New Zealand is scheduled to participate in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from August 19 to September 9, 2012. Among other sports, New Zealand is hoping to send athletes in track and field, equestrian, swimming and table tennis.[1] [2]
Disability classifications
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation (the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness); cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes (there is often overlap between this and other categories); visual impairment, including blindness; and Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[3][4] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.[5]
See also
Notes
- ^ "London 2012 Paralympic Games", Paralympics New Zealand, 18 January 2012
- ^ "Auckland para-dressage rider competing to qualify for Paralympics", Scoop.co.nz, 7 December 2011
- ^ "Paralympics categories explained". ABC. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
- ^ "Making sense of the categories". BBC Sport. 6 October 2000. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ "A-Z of Paralympic classification". BBC Sport. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
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