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.[2][3] 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.[4]
Medallists
The following Canadian competitors won medals at the Games.
Canada qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in this sport at the Montreal hosted 2015 BisFed Americas Pair and Team championship in the Pairs BC4 event. They claimed gold ahead of silver medalist Brazil and bronze medalists Colombia.[5][6]
The Canada men's national goalball team qualified for the Rio Games after finishing third at the 2015 Parapan American Games. They earned the spot because the two teams ahead of them, Brazil and the United States, had already qualified.[8][9] Canada's men enter the tournament ranked 16th in the world.[10]
The following is the Canada roster in the men's goalball tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[11]
The Canada women's national goalball team qualified for the Rio Games after finishing third at the 2015 Parapan American Games. They earned the spot because the two teams ahead of them, Brazil and the United States, had already qualified.[8][9][12] Canada's women enter the tournament ranked 6th in the world.[10]
The following is the Canada roster in the women's goalball tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[13]
Canada earned a qualifying spot at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in this sport following their performance at the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint & Paracanoe World Championships in Milan, Italy where the top six finishers in each Paralympic event earned a qualifying spot for their nation. Christine Gauthier earned the spot for Canada after finishing sixth in the women's KL2 event.[14][15]
One pathway for qualifying for Rio involved having a boat have top eight finish at the 2015 FISA World Rowing Championships in a medal event. Canada qualified for the 2016 Games under this criterion in the LTA Mixed Coxed Four event with a third place finish in a time of 03:27.380.[16][17]
Canada qualified a boat for all three sailing classes at the Games through their results at the 2014 Disabled Sailing World Championships held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Places were earned in the solo 2.4mR event, the two-person SKUD 18-class and a crew also qualified for the three-person Sonar class.[18]
The top two finishers in each Rio medal event at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships earned a qualifying spot for their country for Rio. Aurelie Rivard earned Canada a spot after winning gold in the Women's 50m Freestyle S10.[21][22]
During the draw, Brazil had the choice of which group they wanted to be in. They were partnered with Spain, who would be in the group Brazil did not select. Brazil chose Group B, which included Iran, the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Algeria. That left Spain in Group A with Australia, Canada, Turkey, the Netherlands and Japan.[24]
The Canada women's national wheelchair basketball team has qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[23] As hosts, Brazil got to choose which group they were put into. They were partnered with Algeria, who would be put in the group they did not choose. Brazil chose Group A, which included Canada, Germany, Great Britain and Argentina. Algeria ended up in Group B with the United States, the Netherlands, France and China.[24]
Canada was scheduled to open play in Rio against Brazil on September 14. Their second game was scheduled to be against Great Britain on September 15. Their final game of group play as against the Australia on September 16.[25] Canada entered the tournament ranked number four in the world.[26]
^"CANOE Qualification"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
^"Rowing Qualification"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^"Swimming QUALIFICATION"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2014. Archived from the original(PDF) on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
^"Daily Medallists". International Paralympic Committee. July 2015. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
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