SNPC takes guidance on classifications issues of its athletes from the IPC.
Below is an excerpt from the official IPC website on classification:
Classification is a structure for competition. Paralympic athletes have an impairment in body structures and functions that leads to a competitive disadvantage in sport. Consequently, criteria are put in place to ensure that winning is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus, the same factors that account for success in sport for athletes who are able-bodied.
The purposes for the criteria include:
- Defining which impairment groups can compete in the various sports
- Grouping athletes in classes defined by the degree of activity limitation related to the impairment and/or specific to the tasks in the sport.
Traditionally there are athletes who belong to six different disability groups in the Paralympic Movement: amputee, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, spinal cord injuries, intellectual disability and a group which includes all those that do not fit into the aforementioned groups (“les autres”). When an athlete starts competing, they are allocated a class that may be reviewed throughout the athlete's career. Sports certify individuals to conduct the process of classification and these Officials are known as classifiers.
For more information on classification, please visit: http://www.paralympic.org/Sport/Classification/
