Paralympic Sports (Part 1) Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Here are some sports that are played at the Winter Paralympic Games:

Alpine skiing is one of the original events on the program, a part of the Winter Paralympics since the very first Games in 1976 in Sweden. Athletes compete in three categories based on their impairment: Standing, Sitting (using a sit-ski), and Visually Impaired (with a sighted guide). There are five main categories: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, and Alpine Combined.

In the Nordic skiing classification, the Paralympics also feature the biathlon which combines target shooting and cross-country skiing; it debuted at the 1988 Paralympics. Athletes race around a cross-country skiing course, then stop at a shooting range to hit five targets. For each miss, they either ski a penalty loop or have time added to their total. Athletes compete in the same three categories as the alpine skiing event.

Ice hockey is one of the most popular and anticipated events in the Paralympics ever since its debut in 1994 at Lillehammer. It's also known as sledge hockey, since instead of skates, players sit on a sled or double-blade sledge, and they use two sticks-one with a spike-end for propelling themselves and another regular one for shooting and passing.

Here are some sports that are played at the Summer Paralympic Games:

Archery has been part of the Games since the first Summer Paralympics in 1960 in Rome. The athletes are classified into these categories: W1 (wheelchair users with all four limbs impaired), and an "Open" category that combines the former W2 (wheelchair users with full arm function), and W3 (standing athletes in Amputee, Cerebral Palsy, and other locomotor disabilities) category. There are 9 events (5 men's, 4 women's) using recurve bows at 70m distances.

Debuting in Tokyo in 2020, badminton is now a Summer Paralympics sport. Disability classifications include: WH1, WH2 - Wheelchair users (with WH2 having less impairment)
* SL3, SL4 - Standing players with lower limb impairments (SL being less severe)
* SU5 - Standing players with upper limb impairments
* SH6 - Short stature players
Events include men's and women's singles and doubles, and mixed doubles.

Goalball is a sport that was specifically invented for the vision-impaired - there is no prior version that was played by sighted people although certainly, sighted people could play with blindfolds ... just not in the Paralympics. Three contestants on each team opposing each other on a court the size of a volleyball court. Each team defends a goal that is behind them, stretching across the width of the court. One team throws a ball embedded with noise-making bells toward the other goal, and that other team must block that ball grom going in the net behind them.

When rowing debut in 2008 at the Paralympics races were held over 1,000 meters, but then starting with the 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021), races increased to 2,000 meters, matching the Olympic rowing distance. There are men's and women's single races, as well as mixed-gender team races. Disability classifications include PR1: Athletes use only their arms and shoulders to propel the boat.
PR2: Athletes have trunk and arm movement but limited or no leg function.
PR3: Athletes can use legs, trunk, and arms (may include visual impairments).

In Sitting Volleyball, the court size and net height are both decreased from official measurements. Men's sitting volleyball in Arnhem in 1980, and Women's sitting volleyball in Athens 2004, and both have six players on the court per team. VS1 are athletes with impairments that more significantly impact core functions-leg amputation at ankle or above, loss of all five digits on one hand or eight across both, or upper-limb difference where the affected arm is at least 33% shorter. VS2 are athletes with impairments like spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, amputations, or neurological issues that significantly limit core functions such as pushing, reaching, or blocking.

Swimming is another original sport (since 1960) and features 141 events (men's, women's, and mixed relays). Events include freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and medley, with distances from 50 meters to 400 meters. Classes 1-10 are physical impairments, 11-13 are visual impairments, and Class 14 is for athletes with intellectual impairments.

Table tennis is also one of the original Paralympic sports from 1960 in Rome. There are men's and women's singles and team competitions in which players are divided into 11 classes based on the type of impairment:
Classes 1-5: Wheelchair players (1 = most impaired, 5 = least impaired)
Classes 6-10: Standing players with physical impairments (6 = most impaired, 10 = least impaired)
Class 11: Players with intellectual impairments.

The taekwondo event was specifically developed by World Taekwondo in 2005 for athletes with disabilities, and debuted at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Matches consist of three 2-minute rounds, and scoring features 2 points awarded for kicks to the trunk, with additional points for turning kicks (3 points) and spinning kicks (4 points). Kicks to the head are forbidden, and punches are not scored.
K43: Athletes with bilateral amputation below the elbow, or equivalent loss of function in both upper limbs.
K44: Athletes with an impairment or amputation of one arm below the elbow (or equivalent loss of function)

The venue for track cycling is an indoor velodrome, just like in regular Olympics. The events include:
Individual pursuit, Time trial, Team sprint, and Tandem events for visually impaired riders.
Disability classes include B, for athletes with visual impairments; they ride on tandem bicycles with a sighted pilot.
C1-C5 are for athletes with physical impairments who ride standard two-wheeled bicycles (the lower the class number, the more severe the impairment.
T1-T2 are for athletes with balance impairments; they compete on tricycles.

Wheelchair Basketball is another of the original Paralympic Games events, with both men's and women's tournaments. The athletes' Classification System assigns a point value from 1.0 to 4.5 based on their functional ability. The sport actually originated in the late 1940s, as a form of rehabilitation developed by World War II veterans in the United States and British veterans at Stoke Mandeville Hospital who adapted netball to wheelchairs. How do they call traveling? Is a question often asked. The answer: A player must dribble the ball after no more than two pushes of their wheelchair wheels.

Wheelchair Rugby first became an official medal sport in the Paralympics at the Sydney 2000 Games. As depicted in the award-winning documentary "Murderball", the sport is played indoors on a basketball-sized court with a volleyball, between teams of four players at a time. Players receive a disability rating from 0.5 to 3.5, with lower numbers indicating more severe impairment. Players score by carrying the ball across the opposing team's goal line, with two wheels of the wheelchair crossing the line while they possess firm control of the ball. Physical contact between wheelchairs is permitted, as players use their chairs to block and hold opponents.

And now here are the choices that are NOT events at either the Winter of Summer Paralympic Games:

Bowling has never been included in the official program of the Summer Paralympic Games. It is however, a major sport at the Deaflympics.

While cricket has officially been added to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics for the first time since 1900, it is not a sport in the Paralympics.

Due to insufficient international competition depth and challenges adapting judged events for diverse impairments, figure skating has not become a Paralympic sport.

Hooverball is a game invented by President Herbert Hoover's personal physician, Admiral Joel T. Boone, to help keep the president physically fit using a medicine ball. It is not a Paralympic event.

Tug of war had once been part of the early Olympic Games (from 1900 to 1920), but it never became a Paralympic sport.

Wheelchair Floor Hockey has been used for sports education and recreation, but it has never been included in the official Paralympic program.