Paralympic and adaptive sports are competitive and recreational sports designed to be inclusive for individuals with physical disabilities or impairments. These sports often feature modified rules, specialized equipment, or unique formats to ensure accessibility while maintaining high levels of competition and skill. In the Summer Paralympics, athletes compete in thrilling sports like wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, swimming, athletics, goalball, para cycling, sitting volleyball, boccia, and 5-a-side football, while the Winter Paralympics showcase intense events such as para ice hockey, wheelchair curling, para alpine skiing, para Nordic skiing, and snowboarding
Photo provided by Marc-Grégor Campredon
Wheelchair basketball is a dynamic and inclusive sport adapted from running basketball, designed for those with physical impairments that affect their lower limbs. Played on a regulation basketball court with similar rules, wheelchair basketball showcases fast-paced action, skillful maneuvers, and strategic teamwork. Players use specially designed wheelchairs that allow them to dribble, pass, shoot, and defend with agility and precision.
Photo provided by Australian Paralympic Committee
Sitting volleyball is a discipline of the sport in which athletes play in a seated position. The sitting game utilizes the same volleyball skills and techniques as the standing game with a few key rule differences. Players use both their arms and legs to move across the court, and it’s a physical, fast-paced game.
Photo provided by Australian Paralympic Committee
Goalball is a unique, fast-paced team sport played specifically by individuals who are blind and vision impaired. In goalball, there are two teams of three players each and the object of the game is to “roll” a ball, about the size of a basketball and weighing 2.8 pounds past the opposing team. The goalball houses bells inside, so that the players hear audio cues to locate it and the court is marked with raised lines so that players can feel their location at any time.