Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics - women Freestyle swimming

Para swimming is an adaptation of the

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

for athletes with

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

. Para swimmers compete at the

Summer Paralympic Games The Summer Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebr ...

and at other sports competitions throughout the world. The sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Both men and women compete in para swimming, racing against competitors of their own gender.

History

Xx0960 - Swimming venue 1960 Paralympic Games - 3a - Scan

Para swimming made its Paralympic debut at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

games in Rome, featuring 77 athletes from 15 nations competing in 62 medal events. At its inception, the sport was limited to athletes with spinal cord injuries. Eligibility expanded in subsequent decades to include a broader range of physical, visual, and intellectual impairments. A major milestone occurred at the Toronto 1976 Paralympic Games with the inclusion of events for amputee and visually impaired athletes, significantly increasing participation and the number of events. Swimmers with intellectual impairments were later integrated into competition at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Governance of the sport evolved alongside its development, with early oversight by the International Swimming Training Association for the Paralyzed and eventual formalization under World Para Swimming, a sport-specific division of the IPC. Today, para swimming is one of the largest and most globally participated sports in the Paralympic program, known for its “sport-first” approach, inclusivity and competitive depth.

Rules

Rules for the sport are adapted from those set forth by the

International Swimming Federation World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in water sports. It is one of several international federations whi ...

(FINA). Swimmers compete individually in

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

individual medley Medley swimming is a combination of four different swimming strokes ( freestyle (usually front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as ...

, and as teams in

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

s. At the Paralympics, World Championships and other elite level competitions, swimmers compete in an

Olympic-size swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champions ...

Indoor Swimming Pool with Diving Platform and Springboards

To ensure fair competition, para swimming uses a

classification system Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identif ...

that groups athletes based on the nature and severity of their impairment. While all swimmers follow a standardized set of rules, certain modifications are applied depending on functional ability. For example, significant differences between able-bodied and para swimming include swimmers starting a race by diving from a platform, sitting on the edge, or beginning directly in the water. Additional adaptations exist for visually impaired swimmers. In events for blind athletes, assistants known as "tappers" use a pole to signal when the swimmer is approaching the wall, indicating when to turn or finish. The use of prostheses or assistive devices is not permitted during competition.

Classification

86 ACPS Atlanta 1996 Swimming General Views

Swimmers are classified according to the type and extent of their disability. The classification system allows swimmers to compete against others with a similar level of ability. Swimmers with physical disabilities are allocated a category between 1 and 10, with 1 corresponding to the most severe types of disability.

Physical disabilities A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epilepsy ...

of para swimmers include single or multiple limb loss (through

birth defect A birth defect is an abnormal condition that is present at birth, regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can range from mild to severe. Birth de ...

s and/or

amputation Amputation is the removal of a Limb (anatomy), limb or other body part by Physical trauma, trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as cancer, malign ...

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

spinal cord injuries A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

(leading to paralysis or disability in limb coordination),

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition of people and animals marked by unusually small size or short stature. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dwarfism is . '' ...

, and disabilities which impair the use of joints. Blind and visually impaired swimmers compete within separate categories, being allocated to categories 11, 12 or 13. Category 11 corresponds to totally blind swimmers, while competitors in category 12 have severe but not total visual impairment. Category 11 swimmers compete with blackened goggles to ensure competitors are on an even level. Category 11 swimmers are also required to use tappers but they are optional for categories 12 and 13. Swimmers with mental disabilities compete in category 14, while deaf and hearing impaired swimmers compete in category 15. Numbers are combined with a letter prefix depending on the event type. An "S" prefix corresponds to

and

, while "SB" corresponds to

and "SM" to the

medley Medley or Medleys may refer to: Sports *Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles * Medley relay races at track meets Music *Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together People *Medley (surname), list of people with this nam ...

. Hence, a swimmer with severe physical disabilities competing in backstroke may compete in an S3 event, while a blind swimmer in the medley would compete in class SM11. For relay races, athletes from different classifications compete together, but the sum of their individual classifications must not exceed a given points total. For example, a relay team for a 34 points freestyle relay may consist of two S8 swimmers and two S9 swimmers (9 + 9 + 8 + 8 = 34), or an S10 swimmer and three S8 swimmers (10 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 34)

Events

Para Swimming World Series

Source: The World Series was launched in 2017.
2017 World Para Swimming World Series
- 5 Meetings
2018 World Para Swimming World Series
- 6 Meetings
World Para Swimming World Series 2019
- 7 Meetings
World Para Swimming World Series 2020
- 7 Meetings (5 of 7 was cancelled)
World Para Swimming - World Series 2021
- 4 Meetings
World Para Swimming - World Series 2022
- 6 Meetings
World Para Swimming - World Series 2023
- 8 Meetings

2017

Source: 2017 World Para Swimming World Series City, country Name Date #Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen 2017 World Para Swimming World Series 11-12 March #São Paulo, Brazil São Paulo 2017 World Para Swimming World Series - Loterias Caixa Swimming Open Championships 21-23 April #Sheffield, Great Britain Sheffield 2017 World Para Swimming World Series - British Para Swimming International Meet 27-30 April #Indianapolis, USA Indianapolis 2017 World Para Swimming World Series 9-11 June #Berlin, Germany Berlin 2017 World Para Swimming World Series - Internationale Deutsche Meisterschaften Swimming Berlin 6-9 July

2018

Source: 2018 World Para Swimming World Series City, country Name Date #Copenhagen, Denmark 2018 World Para Swimming World Series 2-4 March #Indianapolis, USA 2018 World Para Swimming World Series 19-21 April #São Paulo, Brazil 2018 World Para Swimming World Series Loterias Caixa Swimming Open Championships 26-28 April #Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy 2018 World Para Swimming World Series 24-27 May #Sheffield, Great Britain 2018 World Para Swimming World Series British Para Swimming International Meet 31 May-3 June #Berlin, Germany 2018 World Para Swimming World Series Internationale Deutsche Meisterschaften Swimming Berlin 7-10 June

2019

Source: 2019 World Para Swimming World Series City, country Name Date #Melbourne, Australia – 15–17 February 2019 #Indianapolis, USA – 4–6 April 2019 #São Paulo, Brazil – 26–28 April 2019 #Glasgow, Great Britain – 25–28 April 2019 #Singapore – 10–12 May 2019 #Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy – 30 May-2 June 2019 #Berlin, Germany – 6–9 June 2019

2020

Source: 2020 World Para Swimming World Series City, country Name Date #Melbourne, Australia 14–16 February 2020 #Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy 27 February -1 March 2020 (CANCELLED) #São Paulo, Brazil 25–28 March 2020 (CANCELLED) #Sheffield, Great Britain 9–12 April 2020 (CANCELLED) #Indianapolis, USA 16–18 April 2020 (CANCELLED) #Singapore, 1–3 May 2020 (CANCELLED) #Berlin, Germany 2020 15–18 October 2020 (new dates)

2021

Source: 2021 World Para Swimming World Series City, country Name Date #Sheffield 2021 World Series, Great Britain; 8 – 11 April #Lewisville 2021 World Series, USA; 15–17 April #Lignano Sabbiadoro 2021 World Series, Italy; 17–18 April #Berlin 2021 World Series, Germany; 17 – 20 June

2022

Source: 2022 World Para Swimming World Series City, country Name Date #Para Swimming World Series Great Britain 17–20 February Aberdeen #Para Swimming World Series Australia 18–20 February Melbourne #Para Swimming World Series Italy 11–13 March Lignano Sabbiadoro #Para Swimming World Series Germany 31 March-3 April Berlin #Para Swimming World Series USA 7–9 April Indianapolis

2023

Source: #Citi Para Swimming World Series Australia 17–19 February #Citi Para Swimming World Series Lignano Sabbiadoro 9–12 March #Citi Para Swimming World Series Great Britain 16–19 March #Citi Para Swimming World Series USA 20–22 April #Citi Para Swimming World Series Singapore 29 April-1 May #Citi Para Swimming World Series Berlin 11–14 May #Citi Para Swimming World Series France 26-28 Ma #Citi Para Swimming World Series Mexico 5–8 October

Notable para swimmers

Ellie Cole Ellie Victoria Cole, (born 12 December 1991) is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progresse ...

Daniel Dias Daniel de Faria Dias (born 24 May 1988) is a Brazilian Paralympic swimmer. Having learnt to swim in 2004 after being inspired by Clodoaldo Silva at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, he entered his first international competition two years later winn ...

Jessica Long Jessica Tatiana Long (born February 29, 1992) is a Russian-born American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8_(classification), S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at six ...

Ellie Simmonds Eleanor May Simmonds (born 11 November 1994) is a British retired Paralympian swimmer who competed in S6 events. She came to national attention when she competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning two gold medals for Great B ...

Trischa Zorn Trischa Zorn (born June 1, 1964, in Orange, California) is an American Paralympic swimmer. Blind from birth, she competed in Paralympic swimming (S12, SB12, and SM12 disability categories). She is the most successful athlete in the history of ...

* Brad Snyder * Zheng Tao

References

External links

World Para Swimming
{{Racing Swimming

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...