Track and field
Track and field (known internationally as athletics) has been a part of the Paralympic program since the first Paralympic Games in Rome, Italy, in 1960. That year, 31 athletes from 10 countries competed in 25 medal events, making it the largest and most popular sport—a trend that has continued to today. At the London 2012 Paralympic Games, 1,130 athletes from 141 countries competed in 160 medal events—setting the Paralympic record for the largest number of participants for a single sport. Track and field also had a record number of spectators in London, regularly selling out the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium.
The rules of Paralympic track and field are almost identical to those of its Olympic counterpart, with modifications to address issues such as prosthetic limbs and racing wheelchairs. Runners who have more severe visual impairments compete with guide runners, who are often attached by the wrist with a tether to the runner.
TIMELINE
1952
Wheelchair racing included in the Stoke Mandeville Games, the predecessor to the Paralympic Games
1960
Track and field debuts at the first Paralympic Games in Rome
1964
Wheelchair racing debuts as the Tokyo Paralympic Games
1994
First International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships held in Berlin
Track and field events include running, wheelchair racing, jumping, and throwing. On the track, athletes compete in the 100-meter (100m), 200m and 400m sprints; 800m and 1,500m middle-distance races; 5,000m and 10,000m long-distance races; and 4x100m and 4x400m relay races. Field events include high jump, long jump, club throw, discus, javelin and shot put. Paralympic track and field also includes the marathon, which takes place on the roads of the host city.
Racing chairs and throwing chairs are considered equipment for Paralympic track and field. Racing chairs are designed to be lightweight for efficiency.
As an extension of their body, many athletes also use prosthetics, which are specially designed to withstand a large amount of ground force.
A need for speed: On fast flats with a tailwind, male wheelchair racers typically race 22–24 miles per hour, while women race 20–22 miles per hour.
Put your money where your wheels are: The average racing wheelchair costs more than $5,000. Typically a frame is roughly $3,000, wheels cost another $2,000, and tires and accessories come in at $250.
London 2012: Team USA came home with 28 medals in track and field at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, putting the team fourth in the overall standings. This included nine gold, six silver and 13 bronze medals. Top performers included Ray Martin (T52), who won four gold medals, and Tatyana McFadden (T54), who won three gold medals and a bronze.
Get this woman a laurel wreath: Tatyana McFadden (T54) was the first person—able-bodied or otherwise—to complete the grand slam of marathons when she won the women’s wheelchair division of the Boston, London, Chicago and New York City marathons in 2013. Not content to rest on her laurels, she did it again in 2014—the same year she took home a silver medal in Nordic skiing at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.
April Holmes was a collegiate All-American at Norfolk State University in the 1990s. When a train accident in 2001 led to the loss of her left leg below the knee, Holmes didn't wait long before setting her sights higher than ever. Her doctor told her about the Paralympic Games, and while still lying in her hospital bed Holmes set three goals: represent the United States, break a world record and win a gold medal.
She has achieved each of those in spades. She's represented the United States at the Paralympic Games three times—in 2004, 2008 and 2012—and medaled each time: a bronze in Athens (F44/46 long jump), a gold in Beijing (T44 100m) and bronze in London (T44 100m). And Holmes has broken more than two dozen American and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) world records in the 100m, 200m, 400m and long jump.
Off the track, Holmes runs the April Holmes Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing scholarships and medical equipment to people with physical and learning disabilities.
CLASSIFICATION
Track and field at the Paralympics is open to male and female athletes from all three impairment groups (visual, intellectual, and physical). A system of letters and numbers is used to distinguish the sport classes—”F” is for field events and “T” is for track events—while the number refers to their sport class.
Note: The models presented below are examples. A classification evaluation must be performed to determine an athlete’s sport class(es).
Physical Impairment
Visual Impairment
Intellectual Impairment
In the large and varied sport of track and field, athletes with physical impairments compete in sport classes 31–57. Within a given sport class category (for example, T31–34), a lower number usually indicates more severe impairments.
T/F31–38
T/F
31
T/F
32
T/F
33
T/F
34
T/F
35
T/F
36
T/F
37
T/F
38
T/F31
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F32
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F33
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F34
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctional
T/F35
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F36
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F37
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F38
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F40–41
T/F
40
T/F
41
T/F40
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F41
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F42–47
T/F
42
T/F
43
T/F
44
T/F
45
T/F
46
T
47
T/F42
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F43
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F44
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F45
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F46
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT47
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT51–54
T
51
T
52
T
53
T
54
T51
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT52
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT53
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT54
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalF51–57
F
51
F
52
F
53
F
54
F
55
F
56
F
57
F51
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalF52
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalF53
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalF54
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalF55
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalF56
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalF57
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalTrack and field athletes with visual impairments compete in sport classes 11–13. Each athlete is assigned a class based on their visual acuity and/or field of vision; those with poorest vision are assigned to T/F11, while T/F12 and T/F13 include athletes with more moderate and mild impairments.
A blind athlete in track events may use assistance from a sighted guide during his or her events. The guide is connected to the athlete by a rope or tether while the guide runs alongside the athlete during races. Field athletes also use guides, whose role is to get the athlete in the proper position and then provide verbal cues to help direct a throw or jump. Read more about athletes with visual impairments in the Paralympic Games.
T/F11
T/F12
T/F13
T/F11
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F12
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalT/F13
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctionalAthletes with activity limitations due to an intellectual impairment compete in T/F20. At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, athletes with intellectual impairments may compete in two field events—long jump and shot put—and one track event—1500m. Read more about athletes with intellectual impairments in the Paralympic Games.
T/F20
T/F20
Impairment Severity Scale
UnaffectedMildModerateSevereNonfunctional