• 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
  • 
  • 
• 
  • 
  • 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sports >>Swimming

Swimming

Venue: Swimming pool, His Majesty The King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary Stadium

Since the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, Swimming has been one of the main sports of the Paralympics. As in the Olympic Games, competitors measure their skills in Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly, Breaststroke and Medley events. In 2006, athletes from more than 80 countries practiced the sport, with male and female competitors having either a physical disability or blindness/visual impairment.

Athletes are classified based on their functional ability to perform each stroke. The governing body is the IPC and co-ordinated by the IPC Swimming Technical Committee, which incorporates the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The FINA rules are followed with a few modifications, such as optional platform or in-water starts for some races and the use of signals or ‘tappers’ for swimmers with blindness/visual impairment; however, no prostheses or assistive devices are permitted.

Classification

Athletes with a visual impairment are classified into three classes, according to the degree of vision loss: S11 for athletes with no sight to class S13 for legally blind.
In the case of swimmers with a physical disability, classification is based on several factors ie, muscle strength, movement co-ordination, joint range of movement and/or limb length. The swimmers are also required to perform a practical water session, performing all strokes and accordingly assessed on their ability
After the assessment is completed, athletes are classified as follows:

The higher the number of the class, the lower the disability, eg, class 1 is for athletes with a severe disability and class 10 for athletes with a minimal disability.

S14 is for athletes with intellectual disability. 

Available Events

See Event Schedule

Rules
Download the IPC Swimming Rules here

*Information gathered from www.paralympic.org.