Amputee sports classification

Amputee sports classification is a disability specific sport classification used for disability sports to facilitate fair competition among people with different types of amputations. This classification was set up by International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD), and is currently managed by IWAS who ISOD merged with in 2005. Several sports have sport specific governing bodies managing classification for amputee sportspeople.

Classification for amputee athletes began in the 1950s and 1960s. By the early 1970s, it was formalized with 27 different classes. This as reduced to 12 in 1976, and then down to 9 in 1992 ahead of the Barcelona Paralympics. By the 1990s, a number of sports had developed their own classification systems that in some cases were not compatible with the ISOD system. This included swimming, table tennis and equestrian as they tried to integrate multiple types of disabilities in their sports.Amputee sportspeople have specific challenges that different from other types of disability sportspeople.

The classes for ISOD's amputee sports classification system are A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8 and A9. The first four are for people with lower limb amputations. A5 through A8 are for people with upper limb amputations. A9 is for people with combinations of upper and lower limb amputations. The classification system is largely medical, and generally has four stages. The first is a medical examination. The second is observation at practice or training. The third is observation during competition. The final is being put into a classification group. There is some variance to this based on sport specific needs.

The purpose of sport specific amputee classification is to facilitate fair play between people with different types of disabilities, and enable people to compete on equal terms that they are prevented from doing when competing against able-bodied competitors because of their amputation. The classification system was designed for people with "...acquired amputations and dysmelia resembling acquired amputations." Their classification system excludes people with "dysmelia not resembling acquired amputations". The classification system does not use a performance based one as such a system would be unfair.

This classification was set up by International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD). ISOD also governed les autres, but uses a different and separate classification system for non-amputees. The ISOD classification system for amputees is sometimes called ISOD (amputee) to differentiate between the two systems. IWAS was created following the merger of ISOD and International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF) in 2005. Subsequently, IWAS became the classification governing body for some amputee sports.

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