What are the Paralympics and how are the games played differently?

What are the Paralympics?

In its essence, the Paralympics are Olympic-style games for athletes with disabilities. It's important to remember that the term "Paralympics" does not exclusively refer to athletes with paraplegia.

Instead, it's derived from the word "parallel" to showcase its adjacent nature with its sister event, the Olympic Games. According to paralympic.org, the word ‘Paralympic’ derives from the Greek preposition ‘para’ (beside or alongside) and the word ‘Olympic,’ Its meaning is that Paralympics are the parallel Games to the Olympics and illustrates how the two movements exist side-by-side."

The athletes are grouped based on their impairment. This includes physical and visual impairments such as limb deficiency, short stature, and blindness among others.

The disability category determines who athletes compete against and which sports they participate in.

Much like the Olympics, the Paralympics has a wide variety of games that athletes can compete in, like Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Swimming, Shooting, and more.

How the Paralympic games are played differently

To accommodate the diverse abilities of Paralympic athletes, some sports have modified rules and equipment.

Para swimming

Para-swimmers compete in similar races to able-bodied swimmers, such as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, and individual-medley events from distances of 50 to 400 meters.

However, Paralympic swimming pools are slightly smaller than Olympic pools, with only eight lanes. To accommodate different levels of disability, swimmers are classified into sports classes.

The starting procedure in Paralympic swimming can vary. Swimmers may dive or enter the water directly, depending on their impairment. Help is given to any swimmers who cannot hold the platform grip on their own.

Athletes with vision impairments are helped by an assistant, who taps the swimmer’s head with a device as they approach the turns or finish of the race.

Para taekwondo

Unlike taekwondo, Para taekwondo players are prohibited from kicking their opponents in the head. Doing so will result in a gam-jeom, a penalty that gives a point to the opponent.

Points are only awarded by hitting the opponent’s torso. Athletes get two points for a regular kick, three points for a turning kick, and four points for a spinning kick.

The matches in Para taekwondo are held in a one-round contest, lasting up to five minutes. Athletes wear protective equipment and "sensor socks" that determine if a point is scored when hitting their opponent's torso.

At Paris 2024, the sport will have a class that has athletes with impairments in either one or both upper limbs.

Para archery

Para-archery is also very similar to archery at the Olympics as players can shoot the same rounds, distances, and events. The difference is that Para archers are arranged into two classes. One is for those competing in wheelchairs whose arms demonstrate some degree of loss of muscle strength, coordination, or range of movement.

In this group, they are allowed to use a bow limited to 45 lbs in draw weight and without magnifying sights.

The other group is for archers who can compete in a wheelchair, standing up, or leaning on a stool. They have extremely limited movement in their trunk and limbs with normal arm function or balance issues.

For the competition, there would be a ranking round where players shoot 72 arrows (12 “ends” of six arrows each) over distances of 50 or 70 meters, with four minutes to shoot their six arrows. They then compete head-to-head in elimination rounds consisting of five ends using three arrows per end.

Wheelchair racing

In wheelchair racing, competitors can participate in sprint distances of 100m, 200m, and 400m, middle distances of 800m and 1500m, long distances of 5000m and 10,000m, and relay races of 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m.

Javelin throw

Like other Paralympic sports, the throwing events also have athletes divided into classes based on the type and severity of their disability.

The men’s javelin throw uses an 800g 2.6m long javelin, and the women’s uses a 600g 2.2-2.3m long javelin. After building momentum by running down a 30m long track, the athletes throw the javelin with all their might down a field, and they score if it lands point first in a 29-degree area.

How to watch

The 2024 Summer Paralympics will be live-streamed via the Paralympic YouTube Channel and the International Paralympic Committee website (geo-blocking policies may apply).