Namibia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
| Namibia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics |
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| IPC code | NAM | ||||||||
| NPC | Namibia National Paralympic Committee | ||||||||
| in Rio de Janeiro | |||||||||
| Competitors | 10 in 3 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer | Johanna Benson | ||||||||
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Medals Ranked 53rd |
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| Summer Paralympics appearances | |||||||||
Namibia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Prior to the team leaving for Rio, they visited the Namibia Sport Commission. The team departed for Rio on August 29. The team included 9 athletes, 4 guides and 7 officials. The team's Chef de Mission was Nicklaus Nghumoono. The team manager was Iitwayi Johannes. The team administrator was Memory Kahlari. The flag bearer was Johanna Benson. Benson won the country's first Paralympic gold and silver medal.
The Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service in Namibia was expected to fund several intensive training camps in preparation for Rio. The Paralympic movement in the country is largely dependent on the government for financial and other support, as the private sector has not contributed much to Paralympic sportspeople's efforts. Additional private funding for the national team came from Coca-Cola, Seaflower and Miss Namibia 2015. Athlete Ananias Shikongo raised funds through a personal crowd funding campaign to finance his preparation.
Promotional events to support Paralympic efforts were scheduled to take place around the country in the lead up to Rio.
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.
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