[Music] para Athletics is the sport of Athletics practiced by people with a disability as a parasport the athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people with two major exceptions in wheelchair racing and the club throw which are specific to the division the sport is known by various names including disability Athletics disabled track and field and paralympic Athletics top level competitors may be called Elite athletes with disability competitors are typically organized into three broad categories deaf Sports athletes with a physical disability and athletes with an intellectual disability deaf athletes typically compete among themselves while athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities are usually assessed and given a para-athletics classification which groups together athletes with similar ability levels these classifications are governed by the international paralympic committee IPC and comprise a single letter and a number t for track or F for field then a number defining the level of ability in competition events May take place between athletes of identical class if numbers are sufficient otherwise a range of similar classes May compete in the same event the Raza Point score system can be used in field events to allow athletes of different abilities to directly compete international government operates outside of the sports able-bodied governing body World Athletics until 2019 iaf and instead is divided among those categories with deaf Athletics overseen by the international Committee of sports for the deaf ciss para-athletics for the physical disabled principally governed by the world para Athletics subcommittee of the IPC and para-athletics for the intellectually disabled through the international sports Federation for persons with intellectual disability there are also condition specific organizations such as the international dwarf Sports Federation and international Athletics Association for persons with Down Syndrome rules for the sport are adapted from those set forth by the world Athletics with the majority of rules for para-athletics being the same as those for able-bodied competitions with exceptions that account for competitor abilities such as a visual signal instead of a starting pistol in races for the deaf paralympic Athletics has been one of the sports at the Paro Olympic Games since 1960 though deaf athletes and athletes with an intellectual disability compete separately at the deaf Olympics and Special Olympics World Games respectively the three major sports specific world championships for para Athletics are the world para-athletics championships the world def Athletics Championships and the inas world Athletics Championships other major para Athletics competitions are hosted within the iwas world games and the inas global games the name of the sport is derived from a portmanto of the words paralympic and Athletics the former term itself is a portmanto of the words paraplegic and Olympic though it now describes Athletics for all disabilities some para-athletics competitors in particular deaf visually impaired and ampute athletes also compete in the able-bodied division of the sport though competitions with a mix of elite disabled and able-bodied athletes are not typically classed as para-athletics classification competitors at Elite level competitions are classified by disability to arrange athletes with a similar disability in the same event a classified T12 athlete for example is a track athlete with a visual impairment F4 deer field athletes te track athletes 11 13 visual impairment 11 and 12 compete with a sighted guide 20 intellectual impairment C 4041 athletes with dwarfism 42 46 amputation and others F1 F7 wheelchair in wheelchair racing athletes compete in lightweight racing chairs most major marathons have wheelchair divisions and the elite Racers consistently beat the runners on foot [Music] [Applause] [Music] like [Music]