To ensure safety and fair play, the International Paralympic Committee evaluates the physical ability of the contestants and arrange for the athletes with similar degrees of impairments to compete in the same group of a sport.

The first component of the Paralympic classification is identifying the eligible impairments. In order to participate in the Paralympic Games, Para athletes must have at least one of the following 10 impairments as outlined by the International Paralympic Committee:

Impaired muscle power;

Impaired passive range of movement;

Limb deficiency;

Leg length difference;

Short stature;

Hypertonia (excessive muscle tone in arms or legs that lead to difficulty in movement);

Ataxia (a disorder of the nervous system affecting coordination, balance and speech);

Athetosis (movement dysfunction such as involuntary writhing of the limbs);

Vision impairment;

Intellectual impairment.

Some events, like the football 5-a-side or goalball, are only open to athletes who have a vision impairment. Other sports like swimming are open to athletes with any of the 10 impairments.

The second component of classification is determining how much an impairment affects the performance of each athlete. Because the severity of these conditions vary from person to person, this secondary classification system is used so that athletes will be grouped with competitors who have similar degrees of impairment, thus minimizing unfair disadvantages.

Visually impaired athletes, for instance, are divided into three different classes (B1, B2 or B3) based on the clarity of their vision and degree of light perception. Football 5-a-side is limited to athletes who meet the criteria of the B1 sport class, where they have a very low level of clarity and/or no light perception.

Goalball, on the other hand, is open to visually impaired athletes of all three classes, but requires all players to wear eye shades when competing.

Other sports like athletics, which are open to athletes with any of the 10 impairments, will feature even more classes to include athletes from every category as well as different degrees of impairment. Each of the classes under every category will have its own medal event.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【障碍】 zhàng'ài impairment being weakened in function, ability

【最小化】zuìxiǎohuà minimize reduce to the smallest possible amount or degree

为保证比赛尽可能公平和安全，国际残奥委对参赛选手的残疾情况和运动能力进行评级，根据具体参赛项目的要求将残疾程度、运动能力差不多的选手分在一起进行比赛。

残奥会运动员分级的第一个要求是符合残疾标准。参加残奥会的残疾人运动员必须至少有国际残奥委员会规定的以下十种残障之一：肌力受损; 被动活动范围受损; 肢体残缺; 双下肢不等长; 矮小症; 张力过强（手臂或腿部肌肉张力过大，导致运动困难）; 共济失调（一种影响协调、平衡和语言功能的神经系统紊乱）; 手足徐动症（运动功能障碍，如四肢不自主扭动）; 视力障碍; 智力障碍。

部分项目，如残奥会5人制足球或门球只允许视力障碍运动员参加。游泳等其他运动项目允许符合上述10种残疾状况中任意一种的运动员参加。

残奥会运动员分级的第二个标准是确定一种身体障碍对运动员的表现有多大影响。由于这些残疾情况的严重程度因人而异，因此残奥会采用了这种二级分类系统，以便将具有相近残障程度的运动员归为一组，从而最大限度地保证公平。

例如，视障运动员根据其视力的清晰度和光感程度被分为三个不同的等级（B1、B2或B3）。5人制足球仅限满足B1级别标准的运动员参赛。B1级别运动员的视力清晰度非常低，且/或无光感。而门球对所有三个级别的视障运动员开放，但要求所有运动员在比赛时戴上眼罩。

其他体育项目，如田径项目面向有上述10种残疾的运动员，将分为更多小项，从而将各种残疾以及残障程度不同的运动员包含在内。各项目类别下的每个级别小项都设有奖牌。

(chinadaily.com.cn)