Difference between Olympics, Paralympics

So, too, Nyoshia Cain for her bronze medal in the 100 metres.

They have done us proud and deserve our unstinting praise and admiration.

However, it seems that many think that winning a Paralympic medal is the same as winning an Olympic medal. That is not quite true. For instance, when you win Olympic gold, you are the best in the world, period. When you win Paralympic gold, you are the best in your category only.

In order to prevent a scenario in which the least-impaired athlete always wins, para-athletes are placed in categories for competition based on their impairment.

There are ten eligible impairment types: impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia (abnormal increase in muscle tension and a reduced ability of a muscle to stretch), ataxia (lack of co-ordination of muscle movements due to a neurological condition such as cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis), athetosis (generally characterised by unbalanced, involuntary movements and a difficulty in maintaining a symmetrical posture), vision impairment and intellectual impairment.

Each Paralympic sport defines for which impairment groups they provide sporting opportunities in their classification rules. While some sports include athletes of all impairment types (eg athletics, swimming), other sports are specific to one impairment type (eg goalball) or a selection of impairment types (eg equestrian, cycling).

The following are the main categories for athletics (T for track, F for field): T11-13, F11-13 (visual impairment), T20, F20 (intellectual impairment), T35-38, F35- 38 (coordination impairments — hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis), T40-41, F40-41 (short stature), T42-44, F42-44 (lower limb affected by limb deficiency, leg length difference, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement), T45-47, F45-47 (upper limb/s affected by limb deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement).

In men’s javelin, for instance, there were eight categories in Rio: F12-13, F34, F38, F40-41, F42-44, F46, F53-54 and F56-57. Stewart competed in F42-44. He won with a throw of 57.32 metres.

This throw was a world record for the F43 category only; the world record for F44 is 57.60 by China’s Gao Mingjie.

By comparison, the winner in the F12-13 category won with a throw of 65.69 with the sixth placed athlete throwing 57.96, emphasising that Paralympic gold simply means that you have won your category, not that you are necessarily the best in the business.

Put another way, there is only one world record for the men’s javelin or the men’s 100 metres, but there are 23 world records for Paralympic javelin and 20 for the 100 metres.

Many countries recognise this difference and reward their athletes accordingly. The US, for example, gives $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 for Olympic gold, silver and bronze, respectively, but $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 for the Paralympics. That seems to be a fair perspective.

Noel Kalicharan via email