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Eight straight for wheelchair racing great

Kurt Fearnley has begun his Paralympic year with a bang after securing victory at the Oz Day 10km wheelchair race in Sydney today.

Aussie to face most dominant woman in world sport

Can Australian athlete Daniela di Toro end the record 436 match winning streak of the world’s most dominant tennis player Esther Vergeer?

World Cup begins for sailors

Australia’s Paralympic sailors have begun their second major competition for the Paralympic year in the second round of the Sailing World Cup in Miami, Florida.

Proudfoot hurls discus world record

Australian Paralympic silver medallist Kath Proudfoot is on track for Paralympic glory, after throwing a discus world record at the Hunter Track Classic on the weekend.

London wheelchair basketball draw decided

The Australian men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball teams will need their A-game from day one at the London 2012 Paralympics, after landing some tough opponents in the tournament draw at Stoke Mandeville on the weekend.

O’Hanlon record will not stand

Sprinter Evan O’Hanlon’s new 100m world record set at the Brisbane Track Classic on the weekend is unlikely to be ratified by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Elite equestrian squad named

Beijing Paralympian Grace Bowman and newcomer Hannah Dodd have been named on the Para-Equestrian National Elite Squad ahead of the Paralympic selection trials later this year.

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LONDON GAMES TRAVEL

The Paralympics Australia Travel Office manages travel arrangements and travel packages for the London 2012 Paralympic Games for family, friends and supporters of the Australian Paralympic Team.

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About the APC

We help Australians with disabilities participate in sport and compete at the Paralympic Games through partnerships with governments, business, sporting bodies and the community.

More about APC

Classification is a term used frequently when referring to Paralympic Sport. Classification in Paralympic sport exists to support as fair competition as possible, amongst athletes with different impairments. It forms the structure for all Paralympic competition, by grouping athletes with similar levels of functional ability into classes for equivalent competition. The outcomes of Paralympic competition then become based on athletic performance rather than on differences that exist in athletes disabilities.

Learn more about Classification

Sport profile

Wheelchair Rugby

Wheelchair rugby is an intense, physical team sport for male and female athletes with quadriplegia (tetraplegia). The sport can be very physical as athletes attempt to carry the ball over the opponent's goal line.

The players are classified according to their level of functional ability and are assigned a point value from 0.5 to 3.5 points – the higher the points, the more functional ability the athletes have.

Sport profile

Swimming

Since the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, swimming has been one of the main sports of the Paralympics. Like the Olympic Games, competitors measure their skills in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and medley events. Swimming is open to both male and female competitors who have a physical disability, intellectual disability or blindness/visual impairment. Athletes are classified based on their functional ability to perform each stroke.

Sport profile

Goalball

Goalball is a sport exclusively for athletes who are blind or have a visual impairment. It was invented in 1946 in an effort to rehabilitate the blind veterans from World War II and made its Paralympic debut in 1976 in Toronto.

Goalball competitions are set apart from all other Paralympic events due to the unique atmosphere inside the playing venue. The object is to roll the ball into the opponent's goal while the opposing players try to block the ball with their bodies.

Sport profile

Kurt Fearnley

As a multiple Paralympic medallist on both the track and road, and the reigning Paralympic and World Champion in the wheelchair marathon, Kurt Fearnley knows how to shine on his sport’s biggest stage.

Athlete profile

Jessica Gallagher

In 2010, Jessica Gallagher created history at the Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, becoming the first Australian woman to ever win a Winter Paralympic Games medal. With guide Eric Bickerton, Jessica claimed bronze in the women’s vision-impaired slalom, capping an amazing rise in the sport after joining the APC’s Alpine Skiing program in 2009. And to make her momentous Paralympic medal even more special, she was able to win it on her 24th birthday.

Athlete profile

Toby Kane

At age 19, Toby Kane was the youngest member of the Australian Paralympic Team when he won a bronze medal in the Super G at the 2006 Winter Paralympic Games in Torino.

While such a result came as a surprise to some of his more experienced rivals, there is no doubt that the Sydney-sider has always been a star in the making.

Athlete profile