Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

has been contested at every

Summer Paralympics The Summer Paralympics also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral ...

since the first games in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

. Men and women from all disability groups compete in the sport. Some athletes use

wheelchairs A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebra ...

prosthetic limbs In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

and compete in their respective sport independently and under their own power.

Visually impaired Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

athletes participate in running events with the help of a

sighted guide A sighted guide is a person who guides a person with blindness or vision impairment. Sports Paralympic Games At the Paralympic Games there are various classifications of athletes with a visual impairment. Rules are according to the International ...

, to whom they may be attached by a

tether A tether is a cord, fixture, or flexible attachment that characteristically anchors something movable to something fixed; it also maybe used to connect two movable objects, such as an item being towed by its tow. Applications for tethers includ ...

. Sound-emitting devices or a sighted "caller" are used to indicate target areas for throwing events, take-off points for jumping events, and other important locations for visually impaired competitors. There are several different classifications and groups in which athletes compete that are based on their disability. Each disability has a different classification which determines the class the athletes will compete in. Nearly every opportunity that is available to non-disabled athletes are available in the Paralympics. In the first edition of the Summer Paralympic Games in 1960, Italy finished the sport in the first place of the medal table, between 1964 to 1996 there was a clear dominance of the United States, being broken in 2000, when Australia dominated the sport at home and since 2004, China has dominated the sport.

Summary

Classification

Athletes compete in various classes which group them according to their impairments and abilities. IPC Athletics Classification Handbook 2006 (Updated June 2010) (PDF)

Medal summary

Medal table

The following medal table is the winnings of the 2020 Paralympic Games. Countries in ''italics'' are former countries who participated in the Paralympic Games. The United States has more than doubled the winnings of any other country, Great Britain and Canada being their closest competitor.

Multi-medallists

Athletes who achieved more than three medals in the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

. Updated to

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

T/F11 - 13

T/F32 - 38

T/F42 - 46

T/F52 - 58

Events

Note that not all events at a particular games are competed across all classifications

Men's events

Women's events

Nations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics At The Summer Paralympics

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...