Paralympic Sports (Part 2) Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Here are some sports that are played at the Summer Paralympic Games:
BLIND FOOTBALL
also known as Football 5-a-side has been a regular sport at the Summer Paralympic Games since its debut at the Athens 2004 Paralympics. And by "Football" it should be clarified that we're not talking about American football like the Green Bay Packers play-no this is "football" as in what many people call "soccer". The Brazilian men's team won five consecutive gold medals from 2004 to 2020, but in 2024 the host nation, France, broke Brazil's streak to win the gold medal at Paris.
BOCCIA
is a Summer Paralympic sport and has been contested there since the 1984 Games. It is played on a flat indoor court, with players trying to throw or roll their colored balls as close as possible to the white target ball, called the jack. Athletes compete in wheelchairs in classes BC1 (cerebral-origin impairment affecting all four limbs), BC2 (cerebral-origin impairment who have better throwing function than BC1), BC3 (the most severe impairment-they cannot consistently throw or kick the ball, so they use a ramp and are allowed to have an assistant), and BC4 (severe locomotor dysfunction from a non-cerebral origin; they are able to throw or kick with enough control, but do not have an assistant).
CANOEING
or Para Canoe has been part of the Summer Paralympics since Rio 2016, where it debuted with kayak-only events. In 2020, the Tokyo Paralympics added va'a (outrigger canoe) races, and both sports have been included ever since. Para canoe features two types of boats: Kayaks (KL) have double bladed paddles, are wider and more stable than Olympic kayaks. Va'a (VL) are outrigger canoes with a side float, and a single bladed paddle. Both are 200-meter races in individual sprint events.
PARA-EQUESTRIAN
is the only Paralympic sport that includes a live animal. It has been a part of the Paralympic program since the 1996 Atlanta Games and is one of its most popular sports. The equestrian competition consists exclusively Dressage in which riders perform routine movements in an arena and they are judged on accuracy, quality, and artistic expression. Grade I riders have the most significant impairments and perform walk-only tests, while Grade II, III, and IV riders have progressively less impairment and Grade V riders have the least impact and perform more advanced movements.
PARA JUDO
is a Paralympic sport, debuting at the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games for men, while women's para judo was added in 2004. It's not much different from regular judo competitions, except that in the Paralympics, only visually impaired athletes compete, grouped into J1 (severely visually impaired or blind) and J2 (partially sighted). Athletes are divided by weight class, and men's matches last five minutes, while women's matches last four minutes.
POWERLIFTING
While traditional powerlifting competitions include squats, the bench press, and the deadlift, Paralympic powerlifting focuses only on the bench press. The athletes lie on their backs on a bench and press a loaded barbell upward, measuring their upper-body strength only. The competition is open to powerlifters with physical impairments affecting the lower body.
ROAD CYCLING
Officially known as Para Cycling Road, Road Cycling has been a part of the Paralympic program since its debut in 1984, held that year in both Nassau County, New York, in the United States and in Stoke Mandeville, in the United Kingdom. In 2026 became the third-largest sport in the Paralympic Movement after track and field and swimming, in terms of number of athletes and events. B (Tandem Category) is for athletes with visual impairments-they ride a tandem bike with a sighted "pilot" on the front. C (Cycle Category) is for athletes with physical impairments like amputations, or cerebral palsy) who can ride a standard bicycle, often with adaptations. H (Handcycle Category) is for athletes with impairments affecting their legs and/or torso (e.g., paraplegia, tetraplegia) in which they then use a hand-powered bicycle. T (Tricycle Category) is for toddlers. No, I'm kidding, it's for athletes with balance or coordination impairments such as cerebral palsy, who require a tricycle for stability.
SHOOTING PARA SPORT
aka "Paralympic shooting" has been part of the Summer Paralympic Games since 1976 (starting in Toronto), with athletes competing in rifle and pistol events at distances of 10, 25, and 50 meters in men's, women's, and mixed events. SH1 category athletes are those who can support the gun without a stand (in both pistol and rifle events). SH2 category athletes are for rifle shooters who use a shooting stand to support the firearm.
PATRIATHLON
debuted at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Just like in the Olympics, the athletes compete in Just like the Olympic version, athletes compete in Swimming, Cycling, and Running, but in the Paralympics athletes are grouped into classifications based on their impairments, and some athletes use specialized equipment like handcycles, tandem bikes for the visually impaired, and prosthetic running blades.
WHEELCHAIR FENCING
aka Para fencing, is one of the foundation sports of the Paralympic Movement and has been a fixture since the very first Games in Rome, Italy, in 1960. The weapons in the Individual and Team include, the foil, epee, and the sabre. Athletic ability factors in 2 categories: A (those with good trunk control) and B (those with impaired trunk or fencing arm). Wheelchairs are fastened into a stationary position, and the wheelchair and lower body are not valid target areas.
WHEELCHAIR TENNIS
first appeared as a demonstration sport in 1988 but has been added as a medal awarding sport since 1992, and is now at every Summer Paralympics. It is played on a standard-sized tennis court with the same basic rules as Olympic tennis, but in the Paralympics, there is a "two bounce rule" so players can let the ball bounce twice before returning it. Even the scoring is the same. Love means zero, the first and second points are 15 each while the third inexplicably is 10 points.

Here are some sports that are played at the Winter Paralympic Games:
PARA CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
skiers race over long distances on snow using skis, similar to the Olympic version. Participants are classified based on their impairments: Standing skiers are those with limb impairments, Sitting skiers are those using a sit-ski, and the Visually impaired athletes are guided by a sighted partner.
PARA SNOWBOARD
added to the Winter Paralympic program in 2014 at the Sochi Games as part of the Para alpine skiing program. By the next Paralympics in PyeongChang (2018), Snowboard became its own sport. One of the two key events is the Snowboard Cross in which four athletes race simultaneously down a course featuring jumps, banked turns, and rollers. The top two finishers in each heat advance to the next round. The other event is a time-trial event called the Banked Slalom in which snowboarders navigate a course with tight, banked turns competing one at a time against the clock as opposed to head-to-head.
WHEELCHAIR CURLING
made its Paralympic debut at Torino 2006 and has featured in every Winter Paralympics since. Teams of players who use wheelchairs compete in mixed team (4 players) events on ice. Mixed doubles wheelchair curling debuted at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. Players slide stones toward a circular target called the "house," with the same scoring and strategy as traditional curling but without sweeping.

And now here are the choices that are NOT events at either the Winter of Summer Paralympic Games:
=== Blind softball, nor blind baseball, is an a Paralympic sport.
=== Croquet is not a Paralympic sport and only appeared in the Olympics once, in the 1900 Summer Olympics.
=== While standard handball has been an Olympic sport for decades, the adapted wheelchair version has not yet been included in the Paralympic Games
=== Wheelchair bowling is not part of the program for the Summer or Winter Paralympic Games.
=== Wrestling was removed from the Paralympic program after 1984, and is now categorized among the discontinued summer Paralympic sports, alongside lawn bowls, snooker, and dartchery.
=== Zorbing is not a Paralympic sport - it is an "extreme recreational activity" or adventure sport, in which people roll downhill inside an orb, a double-layer transparent plastic sphere. It has never been part of the Paralympic Games program.