Classifying disabilities still an issue for Paralympics

With new standards and fewer categories medals mean more, but problems inevitable

Published Date: 2006-03-15 Time: 17:25:03, By Andrew Mitchell, Pique Newsmagazine.

SESTRIERE, Italy - Like any other sport, the Paralympics are eager to create a level playing field for the athletes, where no competitor or team has a preventable advantage and everyone is judged fairly. Because no two disabilities are exactly the same, that’s more difficult than it sounds.

Determining exactly what classification an athlete belongs in at the Paralympics can be a tricky business.

For sports like wheelchair curling and sledge hockey there is a minimum requirement competitors must meet to qualify, and it’s relatively simple to determine who meets that requirement.

For other sports, it’s a lot more complicated. It’s not an exact science, and according to the International Paralympic Committee’s medical and scientific director, Andy Parkson, it never will be.

"Classification was started in the 1960s looking at classic models of disability; spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, amputees, but with advances in medicine and technology we’re seeing athletes who wouldn’t have competed in the past but are competing now with a whole range of qualifications," said Parkson. "Now we’re getting away from the best practice models of the past and replacing it with models supported by science and sports science.

"Coaches, for example, have so much information on athletes, and we have to gather that information and really make use of it.

"That said, there will always be boundaries in each class, and sometimes an athlete falls to one side of the boundary and struggles, and sometimes an athlete falls to the other side and wins. Ultimately you have to draw a line somewhere."

The IPC is committed to overhauling the system by which athletes are classified to ensure that every athlete gets a proper medical assessment using an identical set of assessment procedures. They also want to create a standard system of review and appeals to give athletes every avenue to argue their case before being assigned a classification.

In the winter Paralympics, classification is a big issue for alpine and Nordic events. All athletes have to undergo a medical evaluation before they are classified "geared towards the specific demands of the sport," said Parkson. "We have to make sure athletes have a good understanding of who they’re racing against and an understanding of what they need to achieve to be awarded a gold medal."

For the first time in Paralympic history, the alpine and Nordic events are using World Cup standards to place athletes. Rather than grouping athletes with like disabilities together in a very specific way, the athletes are put into either sitting, standing or visually impaired groups and assigned a time deduction that corresponds with their specific level of ability.

Each athlete is given a real time and an adjusted time that takes each disability into account, but only the adjusted time counts for overall rankings.

The benefit is larger categories, and more intense competition. In the men’s standing super G competition on Monday there were 55 athletes in the starting gate, which is more than in most able-bodied contests.

The standing category includes single amputees above and below the knee, double amputees, racers who are missing one or both arms, or have diseases like cerebral palsy, or other disabilities that don’t stop them from walking around.

The sitting category can include paraplegics, some quadriplegics, double amputees, and athletes suffering from diseases and conditions that generally necessitate the use of a wheelchair.

The visually impaired category is also varied, with athletes that have various states of visual impairment or are completely blind.

In some cases athletes are continually reassessed because conditions can improve and worsen, but before a competition like the Paralympic Games the organizers are keen to determine a permanent status for each athlete.

In the 2006 Paralympics there have only been four challenges by athletes over classification.

According to Trish Jensen, the classification director for the IPC, that’s a low number and shows that existing classification processes have so far been effective, "although it will be easier to judge after the Games when we’ve talked to coaches and athletes."

Her goal is to harmonize and standardize various classification procedures so every national and international sports organization is working from the same book.

"We shouldn’t have to recreate the wheel every time there’s a Games," said Jensen.

"This is something the athletes want, they want their medals to mean something," she added, after discussing the change to competitive categories in alpine and Nordic events.

The issue, says Parkson, is that there will be at least 50 fewer medals handed out in these Games compared to Salt Lake City, and for some disabled programs medals equal funding.

So far the Canadian athletes are very supportive of what the IPC is trying to accomplish.

"I like it," said Chris Williamson, who competes in the visually impaired category, and is favoured to win medals in each event.

"There are more competitors. Instead of looking at a field that just includes B2 athletes we’re not competing against B1, B2 and B3. I think we were losing people because there weren’t enough skiers in their categories, and this will convince a lot more people to participate because they know they’re going to get a fair shake. A totally blind skier will be able to compete on a level playing field against someone who still has decent vision.

"I think in the end it will also make it easier to sell the sport. We get 120 to 150 men out for a World Cup – even able-bodied World Cups don’t get that many. But when you have so many classes that everyone gets a medal it definitely loses something.

"But when you divide everyone into three categories, that’s just nine medals for the men in total, and the level of competition goes way up. Suddenly there’s a lot more interest in the sport.

"It’s also easier for people to understand. People don’t understand why a guy missing a leg is an LW4 while someone missing half a leg is an LW2. Put them together in the same race, and they don’t need to understand."

Whistler’s Brad Lennea, an up and coming sit skier, also supports the changes to Olympic categories.

"There’s only one gold medal given out this way, not three, which means it’s harder to win because there are a lot more guys to ski against," he said. "There are some guys who are so good in their classifications that they should be competing against each other, but they weren’t before.

"People don’t always realize that we’re competing on the same downhill course as the able-bodied skiers, and we’re going just as fast and risking just as much as they are. The system must be working because the races are so close and exciting. In the end I think (the category change) will result in more support and interest, because it’s so much harder to win that medal."

Vancouver’s Lauren Woolstencroft, a standing skier, agrees. "I always thought it was bizarre that we would use one system for World Cup and another for the Olympics and World Championships. I think everyone prefers the World Cup way, even if it means fewer medals, because you want to race against a lot of people and you want that medal to mean something."