Brazil sent a delegation to compete at the

2014 Winter Paralympics The 2014 Winter Paralympics (russian: Зимние Паралимпийские игры 2014, Zimniye Paralimpiyskiye igry 2014), the 11th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were an ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

, Russia, held between 7–16 March 2014. This marked the country's first entry into the

Winter Paralympic Games The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The ...

. Brazil sent two athletes, snowboarder Andre Pereira in

Alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

and

Fernando Rocha Fernando Rocha (born 1975) is a Portuguese comedian, actor, and TV presenter, whose career as a professional performer began in 2000. He has performed in Portugal, and internationally, including Angola, which has a majority Portuguese speaking popul ...

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

. The country's best performance in any event was 15th, achieved by Rocha in the 15 km sitting competition.

Background

Brazil has competed in 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 making their debut at the

1972 Summer Paralympics The 1972 Summer Paralympics (german: Paralympische Sommerspiele 1972), the fourth edition of the Paralympic Games, were held in Heidelberg, West Germany, from 2 to 11 August 1972. The games ended 15 days before the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Mu ...

in Heidelberg, Germany. The nation made its first appearance in a Winter Olympic Games in the

1992 Albertville Games ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

, and has participated in every Winter Olympics since, as of the conclusion of the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. However, the 2014 Winter Paralympics was the nation's first appearance in the winter version of the Paralympics. Andre Pereira was chosen as the Brazilian flag-bearer for the parade of nations during the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

was chosen as the flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.

Disability classification

Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories;

amputation Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...

, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness;

Les autres Les Autres sport classification is system used in disability sport for people with locomotor disabilities not included in other classification systems for people with physical disabilities. The purpose of this system is to facilitate fair competiti ...

, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Events with "B" in the code are for athletes with visual impairment, codes LW1 to LW9 are for athletes who stand to compete and LW10 to LW12 are for athletes who compete sitting down. Alpine skiing and cross-country skiing events grouped athletes into separate competitions for sitting, standing and visually impaired athletes.

Alpine skiing

For the 2014 Winter Paralympics, snowboard cross was considered a discipline of Alpine skiing, rather than a separate sport. Snowboarding was offered only for athletes who competed in a standing position. The men's snowboard cross event was held on 14 March 2014. Andre Pereira was 34 years old at the time of the competition. Over three runs, Pereira improved his time on each run. Only the two best runs for each rider counted, and his combined time was 2 minutes and 42 seconds, placing him 28th out of 33 competitors. The race was won by Evan Strong with a combined time of 1 minute and 43 seconds.

Men

Cross-country skiing

was 35 at the time of the Games. He competes in cross-country skiing from a sitting position. He was classified as LW11.5, and as such, his final times were only 97% of his real times. Athletes classified as

LW12 LW12 is a para-alpine and para-Nordic sit skiing ''sport class'' defined by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). An LW12 skier needs to meet a minimum of one of several conditions including a single below knee but above ankle amputation ...

had their full times counted, whereas athletes classified LW11 had 94% of their times count. Athletes classified

LW10 LW10 is a para-alpine and para-Nordic sit-skiing classification for skiers who cannot sit up without support. For international skiing competitions, classification is conducted by IPC Alpine Skiing and IPC Nordic Skiing, while national federat ...

had only 86% of their times count. On 9 March 2014, he competed in the 15 km sitting competition, and finished with an adjusted time of 49 minutes and 31 seconds, placing him 15th out of 21 competitors, and over 8 minutes behind the winning time of 40 minutes and 51 seconds. Three days later, on 12 March, he participated in the qualification round of the 1km sprint sitting. He finished with an adjusted time of 2 minutes, 29 seconds, good for 20th place, however, only the top 12 were allowed to advance to the semi-finals. The slowest qualifying adjusted time was 2 minutes and 20.12 seconds. His final event was on 16 March, the 10 km sitting competition. He finished with an adjusted time of 35 minutes and 37 seconds; good for 21st place out of 26 competitors who finished the race—two competitors did not finish. The winning time for this event was an adjusted 30 minutes and 52 seconds.

Men's sprint

Men's distance

References

{{NPCin2014WinterParalympics Nations at the 2014 Winter Paralympics

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2014 in Brazilian sport