classification is crucial to parasport without a competitive sport is not possible or meaningful he establishes who can and cannot competes and groups athletes in two sport classes disabled people who are not eligible to compete the Paralympic Games can continue to enjoy sport but they are not on a Paralympic journey the classification system of each sport is different but its aim is always the same to minimize the impact of someone's impairment on the outcome of competition classification might seem complicated but so are people no two para athletes are completely identical path leads may look different to their competitors as there is a spectrum of impairments in each class to be classified athletes must submit medical information go through sport and impairment specific tests and they may be observed in competition during the classification process athletes must give their best effort and a true reflection of their impairment athletes can choose someone to accompany them during this process to enter a national competition the athlete must go through national classification run by the sports national governing body this should mirror international classification as much as possible to enter an international competition the athlete must undergo international classification run by the Sports International Federation this outcome always overrules national classification classifiers work in panels of at least two and make decisions together they decide which class an athlete competes in they are trained by the International Federation of that sport and must have relevant professional qualifications for example they could be a physiotherapist or an ophthalmologist intentional misrepresentation where someone fakes their level of impairment is cheating if it's proven athletes or staff can face a maximum four-year ban comparing competition results personal bests while season bests on its own is not evidence that an athlete has been misrepresenting their impairment an athlete may change class for a number of reasons during their career this does not mean that they will misrepresent in their impairment before they changed class depending on the nature of their impairment an athlete could be classified multiple times during their career an International Federation can put an athlete through the classification process again if it thinks the athlete may have been given an incorrect class athlete may need to go through the classification process again when there are changes made to the sports classification rules [Music] classification isn't the key to success in parasport different factors that impact on performance include talent training technique and good coaching athletes have successfully worn gold medals despite being considered amongst the most impaired in their class for further information please visit our classification page at Paralympics dot Borg dot uk'