Athletes from all over the world are coming to Paris for the 2024 Paralympic Games. At the Games, more than 4,000 athletes with different disabilities will compete for medals in 549 events.

To ensure that all athletes have a fair and equal chance of success at the Paralympics, organizers use a classification system designed to minimize the impact of a person’s disability on their performance.

Ideally, classification means that the rules of the event do not have to be changed for each participant, but that the Games themselves take into account the unique ways in which people with disabilities run, jump, throw and otherwise compete.

In track and field, for example, athletes compete over standard distances (100 metres, 200 metres, etc.), but only against people whose disabilities affect them in a similar way. In team sports such as wheelchair rugby or basketball, athletes with different types and severities of disability compete alongside and against each other.

To ensure fair team competitions, the individual level of impairment of the athletes is taken into account when deciding who is on the field at any given time. Teams can therefore consist of athletes with more or less severe impairments, as long as each team as a whole has similar abilities.

While the concept of classification is relatively straightforward, the classification process can be anything but straightforward. And for some athletes, it can itself be damaging.

The classification process

To be classified, athletes must provide medical documentation of their impairment before registering with their international federation and undergo observation immediately before an international competition. These observations usually include three elements: a medical and technical assessment, and observations during the competition.

Obtaining medical records can be expensive and time-consuming, and some athletes are classified multiple times throughout their careers; this can be a laborious process.

In addition to the time required for classification, athletes often report feeling that while Paralympic sport is intended to inspire change and improvement in the lives of people with disabilities, the classification process itself can be disability-hostile.

Classification requires athletes to share the most intimate details of their disability with a group of strangers, which can often cause discomfort and embarrassment for athletes.

Experiences of athletes

Although classifiers have extensive training and professional experience in the field of human movement and disability, this expertise reinforces athletes’ sense of vulnerability. Because classifiers have the ability to approve or deny an athlete’s application, they have significant power over the athletes they classify. If left unchecked, this can have devastating consequences for athletes.

As a PhD student, I interviewed Paralympic athletes about their experiences with classification. One athlete shared that classifiers ignored his complaints of pain during an assessment and pushed him beyond his physical limits. This resulted in an injury and the athlete’s permanent retirement from the sport shortly thereafter. This is not the first report of an athlete leaving the sport due to problems with the classification process.

Athletes and classifiers alike attribute such negative experiences to poor communication. However, because classification takes place immediately before competition, athletes rarely have the opportunity to speak informally with classifiers or ask questions about the process in a less stressful environment. Even coaches report that they rarely have the opportunity to learn about the classification.

Improving the process

As part of my PhD, I wanted to fill this gap and make suggestions on how Canadian national sport organizations can better educate para-athletes about classification. Recommendations include developing improved training materials for staff and allocating additional financial and human resources to classification.

However, more work is needed to ensure that more athletes do not leave the sport because of classification. The International Paralympic Committee and international sports federations must consider more than just the effectiveness of classification processes when revising the Classification Code.

Athletes’ experiences should be central to the development and implementation of classification procedures. To achieve this, sports federations must actively recruit former athletes as classifiers. In addition, providing athletes with additional opportunities to meet with classifiers outside of competition will improve communication between athletes and classifiers.

So, as you follow the Paralympics in the coming weeks, think not only of the amazing performances you see on television, but also of the effort the athletes have put in to secure their place in the sport.