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The Archery events at the 2012 Paralympics will be held over a seven day period from 30 August to 5 September. Nine medal events will be held, and all events will take place at The Royal Artillery Barracks in London and 140 athletes will be taking part. 

Although Paralympic Archery was originally developed as a means of rehabilitation and recreation for people with a physical disability, it rapidly evolved into a competitive sport. At London 2012, the Paralympic Archery competition will consist of standing and wheelchair events for individuals and teams, and promises plenty of drama in the historic surroundings of The Royal Artillery Barracks

Athletics at the 2012 Paralympics will be held over 10 days from 31 August to 9 September, at the Olympic Stadium and The Mall. With 1,100 athletes competing for 166 gold medals, Athletics is the largest sport on the Paralympic programme. There are various different strands to the competition: track events, in distances from 100m to 5,000m; field events, which include the High Jump and Shot Put; and the Marathon, which is held on the roads. Some athletes compete in wheelchairs or throwing frames, others with prostheses, and others with the guidance of a sighted companion. 

Part of the Paralympic programme since the first Games in Rome in 1960, the sport of Athletics has produced some of the most iconic images in the history of the Paralympic movement, with legendary figures such as Louise Sauvage, Baroness Grey-Thompson and Oscar Pistorius making their names before a worldwide audience.

Boccia at the 2012 Paralympics will be contested between 2-8 September. The competitions will take place at ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London. There will be 104 athletes competing in seven events.

The object of the game is to propel a ball so that it lands as close as possible to the white target ball, known as the ‘jack’. Each player, pair or team gets six balls on each end. At the close of each end, the athlete, pair or team whose ball is closest to the jack scores one point, and receives an additional point for every ball that sits closer to the jack than the opposition’s closest ball. Individual and pairs matches consist of four ends, while team events are held over six ends.

Boccia is played by wheelchair athletes with cerebral palsy and related locomotor conditions, with players required to be in a seated position within a throwing box at one end of the playing court. The classification system ensures an even playing field for athletes to compete against others with similar disabilities.

Paralympic Cycling was originally developed as a sport for blind athletes, who first competed using tandem bicycles. Technological advancements have since opened up the sport to a wider range of athletes; as a result, it is now the third largest sport on the Paralympic programme.

The 50 medal events that make up the Paralympic Cycling competition feature athletes with a visual impairment, cerebral palsy, amputations or other physical disabilities competing on bicycles, tricycles, tandems and hand cycles. At London 2012, there will be 32 Paralympic Road Cycling events taking place from 5-8 September. 

Track cycling at the 2012 Paralympics will be held from 30 August to 2 September at the Olympic park Velodrome in London.

 

The first Track Cycling races at the Paralympic Games took place at the Atlanta 1996 Games. At London 2012, when the programme will feature more medal events than at any previous Paralympic Games with 18 Paralympic Track Cycling events (10 for men, seven for women and one mixed event), which variously test speed, endurance and teamwork.

The Equestrian events are taking place from 30 August to 4 September at Greenwich Park. A total of 78 athletes will compete over eleven medal events.

Athletes with a disability have long taken part in Equestrian activities, originally as a means of rehabilitation and recreation. Para-Equestrian Dressage developed in the 1970s, with the first events held in Great Britain and Scandinavia. The multi-disability sport has since spread around the world, and athletes from more than 40 countries now compete on a regular basis.

At the Paralympic Games, athletes compete in two Dressage tests: a Championship Test, made up of set movements, and a Freestyle Test, for which athletes choose their own movements and music. There is also a team event, for three to four athletes per team. Through the tests, horse and rider must be in harmony, and the overall picture must be of lightness and rhythm.

The athletes are classified across five grades, which determine the complexity of the movements that the riders perform with their horses. These grades ensure that the tests can be judged on the skill of the rider, regardless of their disability. Riders may use permitted assistive devices such as dressage crops, connecting rein bars and the like; visually impaired riders are permitted to use ‘callers’ to help them navigate around the arena.

 

5-a-side football at the 2012 Paralympics will take place at the Olympic Park Hockey Centre from 31 August to 8 September.

 

One of two forms of Football on the Paralympic programme, 5-a-side Football is a thrilling, fast-moving spectacle. Played by visually impaired athletes using a ball with a noise-making device inside, the sport offers skill and drama in equal measure, with eight teams battling for gold at the new Hockey Centre in the Olympic Park. 

Matches are played between two teams, each with four outfield players and a goalkeeper. The outfield players are visually impaired, and wear eyeshades to ensure fairness; however, the goalkeeper may be fully or partially sighted. The pitch is surrounded with a rebound wall; the sport is played with no throw-ins and no offside rule, which ensures non-stop action. Matches are played over two halves of 25 minutes each, plus 10 minutes for half-time.

The Paralympic tournament will feature eight men’s teams, initially two groups of four teams in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the semi-finals, with the winning semi-finalists going head to head for the gold.

5-a-side football at the 2012 Paralympics will take place at the Olympic Park Hockey Centre from 1-9 September.

One of two Football variations played at the Paralympic Games, 7-a-side Football is a fast-moving and fiercely competitive sport played by athletes with cerebral palsy. 7-a-side Football follows FIFA rules, with some modifications: each team consists of seven players; the playing field is smaller, as are the goals (5m by 2m); there’s no offside rule; throw-ins may be made with one hand only; and each half lasts 30 minutes. Teams are made up of ambulant cerebral palsy athletes, and each side must maintain a line-up featuring players with varying levels of disability.

The Paralympic tournament will feature eight men’s teams, initially two groups of four teams playing in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the semi-finals, with the winning semi-finalists going head to head for the gold.

Played competitively in more than 100 countries, Goalball is one of the most popular Paralympic sports. It will take place between 30 August and 7 September, at the Olympic Park Handball Arena.

Since it was developed as a rehabilitation activity for injured soldiers returning from World War II, Goalball has spread around the world. Played by visually impaired athletes using a ball with bells inside, it is among the most exciting team sports on the Paralympic programme.

Goalball is played by two teams of three visually impaired athletes on an indoor court, with goals (9m wide x 1.3m high) at either end. The aim is to score by rolling the ball into the opposition’s goal, while the opposition attempts to block the ball with their bodies. All athletes are visually impaired, and wear eyeshades to allow athletes with varying degrees of vision to compete together. The Goalball arena is silent during play so that players can hear the ball, but spectators are free to cheer when a goal is scored.

Both the men’s and women’s tournaments begin with a round-robin group stage. The 12 men’s teams are divided into two groups of six teams, while the 10 women’s teams are divided into groups of five. The top four teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals, from which point the tournaments are played in a knockout format.

The only martial art on the Paralympic programme, the gripping, grappling sport of Judo will offer plenty of action at London 2012! Judo will be held from 30 August to 1 September at ExCeL Exhibition Centre. Ten events (6 individual, 4 team) are scheduled to be contested. The International Fencing Federation pushed for the inclusion of two more team events, but the IOC voted to keep the current format of ten  

Developed from jujitsu and established as a sport in the late 19th century by Dr Jigoro Kano, Judo requires athletes to employ an intricate mix of attack and defence. Contested at the Paralympic Games by visually impaired athletes, the sport’s one-on-one battles can be tough, tense and explosive, as competitors grapple for command against determined opponents. All of the Judo events at the London 2012 Paralympic Games will be played in a knockout format with double repechage, and will end with two finalists going head to head in the gold medal contest. Athletes who have previously been defeated by these two finalists will compete in repechage contests, with the winners of the repechage table finals fighting the losers from the opposite tables for the two bronze medals.

Powerlifting at the Paralympics 2012 takes place between 30 August and 5 September at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre and will involve 200 athletes.

With athletes from more than 100 countries now involved in international competition, Paralympic Powerlifting is one of the world’s fastest growing sports. The bench-press contest offers a tense and dramatic sporting spectacle, as athletes battle to lift more weight than their rivals.

In Paralympic Powerlifting, athletes are classified by bodyweight alone, which means athletes with different disabilities compete for the same medals. There are ten different weight categories for both men and women. 

Powerlifters must lower the bench-press bar to their chest, hold it motionless, and then press it upwards to arm’s length while keeping their elbows locked. Athletes are given three attempts, and the winner is the athlete who lifts the largest weight (measured in kilograms).

Appearing at the Paralympic Games for only the second time, rowing will be competed in by 96 athletes at Eton Dorney during London 2012 from 31 August to 2 September.  

Paralympic Rowing is commonly referred to as ‘adaptive’ Rowing, meaning that the equipment is adapted so the athlete can practise the sport rather than the sport being adapted to the athlete.

At London 2012, the programme will feature four medal events. These include two mixed-gender events – the Coxed Fours and Double Sculls – plus the men’s and women’s Single Sculls. All the races will be held over a 1000m course.

Paralympic Rowing events at London 2012 will all begin with heats, with two boats from each heat qualifying directly for the final. All remaining boats will then compete in two repechage races, which offer a second chance to qualify for the final and row for gold.

A total of 80 athletes will be sailing for gold in the waters of Weymouth Bay at the London 2012 Paralympic between 1-6 September. 

Sailing for athletes with a disability began to develop as a competitive sport in the the 1980s, just over 10 years before it joined the Paralympic programme. Mastery over ever-changing conditions on open water requires skill, tactics and nerve, all of which will be essential for competitors in the Paralympic Sailing events at London 2012.

At the Paralympic Games, athletes compete in three mixed events: the Single-handed, Two-Person and Three-Person Keelboat competitions. The design of the keelboats used in Paralympic competition provides greater stability, and the boats have open cockpits to allow more room for the sailors. Classification is used to level the playing field where there are a variety of disability levels.

Each event consists of a series of races sailed over a six-day period, averaging two races a day. Points in each race are awarded according to position: the winner gets one point, the second-place finisher scores two, and so on through the fleet so the competitor with the lowest score at the end of the series wins gold. Competitors sail 11 races in total and are allowed to discard the result of their worst-scoring race, meaning the total of their 10 best races gives them their final position.

The Paralympic Shooting programme includes both rifle and pistol events: three men’s events, three women’s events and six mixed events. Athletes with different disabilities compete together in two classes – SH1, for athletes who can support the weight of their firearm themselves, and SH2, for athletes who use a shooting stand to support their arm.

The target is made up of 10 scoring rings. The centre ring, known as the bull’s-eye, is worth 10 points, or 10.9 points in finals. Athletes shoot from a variety of positions ­– standing or sitting, kneeling and prone – at distances of 10m, 25m and 50m. The rules for each event depend on the firearm, the distance, shooting position, number of shots and the time limit, but each competition consists of a qualification and a final round.

140 athletes will be competing in the Shooting competition between 30 August and 4 September at The Royal Artillery Barracks.

Four strokes are used in Paralympic competition: Freestyle (essentially front crawl), Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly. All four strokes feature in the Medley Relay and 200m Individual Medley events; in addition, all of them except Butterfly feature in the 150m Individual Medley events for certain classifications. Races take place in a 50m pool, and may be started in a number of ways: from a standing start; using a dive start from a sitting position on the starting platform; and from within the water.

Swimmers are classified according to their functional ability to perform each stroke, and compete against athletes in their own classification. Classifications S1 to S10 cover athletes with physical disabilities; S11, S12 and S13 refer to blind athletes and those with visual impairments; and S14 is for athletes with intellectual disabilities. The higher the number of the class, the lower the disability.

udo contests last five minutes, with scores awarded for different throws and holds. However, a contest ends immediately if a competitor is awarded ‘ippon’ – the maximum score. If the scores are tied after five minutes, the contest enters a golden score period, when the first score of any sort wins.

 

The swimming competitions at the 2012 Paralympics will be held from 30 August to 8 September at the Olympic Park Aquatics Centre and will feature over 600 athletes.

With 29 medal events and nearly 300 athletes, Table Tennis is one of the largest sports on the Paralympic programmevents will take place at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre between 30 August and 8 September.

Table Tennis is based on the same basic principles as Tennis, but it has a very different scoring system. At the Paralympic Games, matches are played over the best of five games, with the first player to 11 points (by a margin of two clear points) winning each game. The programme includes individual and team events for both standing players and wheelchair athletes.

At London 2012, all individual events will begin with a group qualification stage followed by a knockout competition, with athletes progressing through the draw until the finals. The team events will be conducted according to a direct knockout format.

The Sitting Volleyball competition will take place over ten days from 30 August to 8 September at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre.

 

Sitting Volleyball emerged in the Netherlands in the 1950s, a combination of Volleyball and a German game called Sitzbal. It really began to increase in popularity during the 1960s, and has since grown into one of the most fast-paced and exciting Paralympic sports. Now played by athletes in more than 50 countries around the world, the sport should draw big crowds at London 2012.

Sitting Volleyball is played by two teams of six on a 10m x 6m indoor court divided by a net (1.15m high for men, 1.05m for women). The object of the game is to land the ball in the opposition’s half of the court, with each team allowed three touches of the ball (in addition to a legal block) before it must cross over the net. Matches are the best of five sets, with the first four sets played as the first to 25 points; if a fifth set is necessary, it is won by the first team to reach 15 points. In all sets, a margin of at least two points is required for victory.

At London 2012, both the men’s and women’s events will begin with a round-robin group stage: the 10 men’s teams will be divided into two groups of five teams, with the eight women’s teams divided into groups of four. In the men’s competition, the top four teams in each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, from which point the competition will be conducted to a knockout format. For the women’s event, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, with the winning semi-finalists then facing off for the gold. 

Wheelchair Basketball was developed by American World War II veterans as part of their rehabilitation programme, but its popularity soon spread around the world. Now played in more than 80 countries, it is one of the most dynamic on the Paralympic programme, and should draw large and enthusiastic crowds to the Basketball Arena and North Greenwich Arena during London 2012.

The rules of Wheelchair Basketball are broadly similar to Basketball. The court is the same size, the basket is at the same height, and the scoring is identical: two points for a regular shot from open play, one point for each successful free throw and three points for a shot from distance (6.75m from the basket). Players move the ball around the court by passing or dribbling, and are required to throw or bounce the ball after every two pushes of the wheels on their chairs to avoid being penalised for travelling. 

There are 12 players in each team, with no more than five on court. Every player is assigned a point value based on their functional ability, from 0.5 (the most severely disabled) to 4.5, and the total on-court point value for each team should not exceed 14 during play.

Both the men’s and women’s tournaments begin with a round-robin – the 12 men’s teams divided into two groups of six teams, the 10 women’s teams divided into groups of five. The top four teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals, from which point the tournaments are played to a knockout format. The competition will take place between 30 August to 8 September.

 

Athletes compete in wheelchairs that are fastened to the floor. This gives the fencers real freedom of movement in their upper bodies, not to mention full confidence that their chairs won’t move or tip over during competition. The length of the playing area is determined by the athlete with the shorter arm reach, who decides if the distance between competitors will be set at the length of their opponent’s reach or their own.

Three types of weapon are used in Paralympic Fencing. In bouts using the Foil and the slightly heavier Epée, hits are scored by hitting an opponent with the tip of the weapon. However, in Sabre, hits may also be scored with the edge of the weapon. The target area for the Foil is limited to the opponent’s torso, while competitors in the Sabre and Epée events may be struck anywhere above the waist.

 

Fencing will be held from 4-8 September at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre. Twelve events are expected to be included with 100 athletes expected to take part.  

Wheelchair Rugby was invented in 1977 by a group of Canadian quadriplegic athletes, who were looking for an alternative to Wheelchair Basketball that would allow players with reduced arm and hand function to participate on equal terms. The sport they created, which incorporates some elements of Basketball, Handball and Ice Hockey, has since grown into a thrilling and intense spectacle, and is enormously popular with Paralympic spectators around the world.

Wheelchair Rugby is played indoors on a regulation-size Basketball court by teams of four, using a white ball identical in size and shape to a volleyball. The object of the game is to carry the ball across the opposition’s goal line. Contact between wheelchairs is permitted, but physical contact is outlawed. The result is a fast-moving sport that requires plenty of skill and toughness from its competitors.

The Wheelchair Rugby tournament at London 2012 will feature eight teams made up of both men and women – it is a mixed sport – who will begin the competition in two groups of four teams. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the semi-finals, and the semi-final winners will then go head-to-head for the gold. Wheelchair rugby will be held from 5-9 September at the Olympic Park Basketball Arena.  

 

Wheelchair Tennis was invented in 1976 by Brad Parks, who had been experimenting with tennis as a recreational therapy after he was injured in a freestyle skiing competition. Since these humble beginnings, Wheelchair Tennis has grown at an amazing rate: now fully integrated into all four Grand Slam Tennis events, and with more than 150 tournaments on the ITF’s own Wheelchair Tennis Tour, it is more popular than ever.

The sport follows similar rules to Tennis, with one key exception: the ball is allowed to bounce twice, and only the first bounce must be within the boundaries of the court. All matches are played over the best of three sets.

At London 2012, the Wheelchair Tennis competition will consist of six medal events: men’s and women’s Singles; men’s and women’s Doubles; and quad Singles and Doubles, which are for players with a disability in three or more limbs. All events are played according to a knockout format.

The Wheelchair Tennis will involve 112 athletes and will take place from  1-8 September at Olympic Park Eton Manor. 

 

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