Paralympic Games 2012- Swimming

Where: Olympic Park - Aquatics Centre

When: Thursday 30th Aug – Saturday 8th Sept 2012

Medal Events: 148
Athletes: 600 (350 men, 250 women)

Evidence of people swimming for sport dates back all the way back to Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek times, and it is now a hugely popular activity all over the world. With 600 swimmers competing in nearly 150 medal events across 10 days in the beautiful new Aquatics Centre, the Swimming competition at the Paralympic Games promises plenty of excitement.

The Basics
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 how their impairment affects their ability to perform each stroke. Classification numbers 1-10 cover athletes with physical impairments, with class 1 swimmers’ impairment having the greatest impact on their ability to perform strokes, through to class 10 swimmers’ impairment having the least impact. Athletes with a visual impairment compete in classes 11-13, with class 11 having little or no sight, through to class 13 having limited sight. Athletes with an intellectual impairment compete in class 14.

Breaststroke uses greater leg propulsion than any other stroke, therefore athletes with a physical impairment often have a different class for this event compared to Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly. This is also taken into account when athletes compete in the Individual Medley. This is shown by the prefix:

• S before the class represents Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly • SB before the class represents Breaststroke
• SM before the class represents Individual Medley

Paralympic Swimming - Past & Present
Swimming is one of the few sports to have featured at every Paralympic Games since 1960, and remains one of the most popular on the Paralympic programme. At London 2012, the Swimming events will be held at the dazzling new Aquatics Centre, built especially for the Games in the Olympic Park.

Jargon Buster
Medley: A combination event in which a swimmer or team swims separate legs of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.

Classification: Provides a structure for competition, whereby athletes with disabilities are grouped in classes defined by the degree of function presented by the disability.

Tapper: A ‘tapper’ may be required by a swimmer with a visual impairment to indicate that that they are approaching the end of the pool.





Courtesy of http://www.london2012.com