Goalball
Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded inside of it into the opponents' goal. The ball is thrown by hand a ...
at the
2008 Summer Paralympics
The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...
was held in the
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium () is a 5,000-seat indoor arena located on the campus of Beijing Institute of Technology in Beijing, China. It hosted volleyball competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the goalball competition at the ...
from September 7 to September 14. The competition consisted of men's and women's team events, and what had been billed as one of the most open tournaments certainly lived up to expectations.
In the women's gold medal game, the lead changed hands five times, with the USA outlasting China by a score of 6–5, with never more than one goal in it. The winning goal came from Asya Miller with less than a minute to go.
The gold medal in the men's game was even more dramatic. Lithuania, the current world champions, took advantage of a clutch of penalties in the first half to jump ahead of China by 6 goals to 2 at the half, and looked to be holding on despite a steady comeback. With only 50 seconds on the clock, the Chinese were two goals behind (6–8) but managed to overturn the deficit with three goals in 30 seconds to take the gold 9–8, sending the packed BIT Gymnasium into rapture.
Medalists
Classification
Players are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability.
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 in classes B1 through B3 can take part in goalball. Partially sighted players wear blindfolds so that they compete on equal terms with blind players.
Participating teams
There were 12 men's teams and 8 women's teams taking part in this sport.
Men's
Women's
Men's
Competition Format
The twelve men's teams were divided into two even groups for a
single round robin group stage. The top four teams of each group will advance to the quarter finals to compete for 1st through 8th place, while the last two teams of each group compete for 9th through 12th place. All matches in the second stage are
knock-out
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking ...
format.
Group stage
Group A
Group B
Tournament bracket
Classification rounds
2008-09-12
11/12th classification
2008-09-13
5-8th classification
2008-09-14
7/8th classification
5/6th classification
Women's
Competition format
The eight women's teams will play a
single round robin tournament. The top four teams advance to the semi-final to compete for 1st through 4th place.
Preliminary stage
Tournament bracket
China-Sweden PSC
References
*
External links
Official site of the 2008 Summer ParalympicsThe Audio Sports Network produced live audio broadcasts of every game of the tournament, and you can listen to the free mp3 audio archive by clicking on this link
{{Paralympic Games Goalball
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
2008 Summer Paralympics events
Goalball in China