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]
The Spain national boccia team qualified to the BC1/BC2 mixed team tournament (and for the individual tournament in both categories) because their third position in the BISFED 2015 Boccia World Team Rankings.
With one pathway for qualification being one highest ranked NPCs on the UCI Para-Cycling male and female Nations Ranking Lists on 31 December 2014, Spain qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, assuming they continued to meet all other eligibility requirements.[5][6]
The Spain men's national Football 5-a-side team qualified to the tournament after the Russian team was banned, and because of their third position (behind Russia) in the 2015 IBSA Football 5-a-side European Championships.
The following is the Spain squad in the football 5-a-side tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[8]
One pathway for qualifying for Rio involved having a boat have top seven finish at the 2015 Combined World Championships in a medal event where the country had nor already qualified through via the 2014 IFDS Sailing World Championships. Spain qualified for the 2016 Games under this criterion in the Sonar event with a thirteenth-place finish overall and the fifth country who had not qualified via the 2014 Championships. The boat was crewed by Francisco Llobet, Hector Garcia, and Manuel Gimeno.[9][10][11] They qualified a second boat in the SKUD 18 event with a thirteenth-place finish overall and the fifth country who had not qualified via the 2014 Championships. The boat was crewed by Sergio Roig and Violeta Del Reino.[9][11][12] Spain qualified a third boat in the 2.4m event with a seventeenth-place finish overall and the seventh country who had not qualified via the 2014 Championships. The boat was crewed by Antonio Maestre. He tied with fellow Spaniard Montes Vorcy Arturo for seventeenth place but won on the tiebreaker.[9][11][13]
The country sent shooters to 2015 IPC IPC Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, where Rio direct qualification was available. They earned a qualifying spot at this event based on the performance of Juan Antonio Saavedra in the R6 – 50m Rifle Prone Mixed SH1 event.[14][15]
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. Teresa Perales earned Spain a spot after winning gold in the Women's 50m Backstroke S5.[16][17]
The Spain men's national wheelchair basketball team has qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[18] 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.[19]
^"CYCLING QUALIFICATION"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2014. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
^ abc"Sailing Qualification"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^"Sonar". Royal Yacht Club Victoria. 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^"SKUD 18". Royal Yacht Club Victoria. 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^"2.4m". Royal Yacht Club Victoria. 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^"Shooting Qualification"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2014. 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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