The Sport

Para athletics is the biggest sport within the Paralympic Movement in terms of the number of participating athletes and countries. Its wide range of competition opportunities includes the Paralympic Games, biennial World and World Junior Championships and biennial or quadrennial regional Championships.

History

The first Para athletics competition was held in 1952 when several athletes with a spinal cord injury took part in a javelin event as part of the Stoke Mandeville Games which served injured World War II veterans.

Paralympic Debut

The sport has been included in all editions of the Paralympic Games from Rome 1960 onwards.

Classification

There are 10 eligible impairment types in Para Athletics: eight physical impairments as well as vision impairment and intellectual impairment.

Athletes compete according to their sport specific classification in each event. Some compete in wheelchairs and some with prostheses, while vision impaired athletes are supported by a sighted guide.

Iran Para Athletics

Para athletics made its debut in 1980 with the first national championships taking place in the same year.

In 1983, National Para Athletics team represented at Stoke Mandeville World Competition in the UK.

Currently, all para athletes divided into two groups including the athletes with a Vision Impairment (VI) under support of IRISFB, the athletes with a Physical Impairment (PI) and the athletes with an intellectual impairment who are under support of IRISFE. Both national federations are the members of I.R. Iran NPC to receive support.

Media

Watch an introduction to Para Athletics on Paralympic Sports A-Z: Athletics

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