Comments on: The Paralympics as the main competition of the future http://maebmij.org/blog/2007/07/12/the-paralympics-as-the-main-competition-of-the-future/ stuff having to do with James Ballantine Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:52:55 +1100 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Mary http://maebmij.org/blog/2007/07/12/the-paralympics-as-the-main-competition-of-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-38 Mary Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:59:03 +0000 http://maebmij.org/blog/2007/07/12/the-paralympics-as-the-main-competition-of-the-future/#comment-38 I suppose there might also be the notion of winning by world record split eventually come into play. At the last Commonwealth Games they had two Elite Athletes With a Disability events for swimmers, but as all the swimmers were in different disability classes (the blind swimmer, for example, who couldn't hold a line in his lane was slower than the swimmers missing part of their arm), so the gold medallist was the person who had the lowest time adjusted for the world record in that class. (In fact, two set world records for their class in the event.) There's already some minor 'disability adjustment' that seems to happen: swimmers in the totally blind class actually wear opaque goggles, which I think allows people who aren't quite totally blind to compete. I think able-bodied people have played wheelchair basketball, but wheelchair basketball is about as ferocious as ice-hockey, and people who have the upper body strength that permanent wheelchair users do have an advantage. I suppose there might also be the notion of winning by world record split eventually come into play. At the last Commonwealth Games they had two Elite Athletes With a Disability events for swimmers, but as all the swimmers were in different disability classes (the blind swimmer, for example, who couldn’t hold a line in his lane was slower than the swimmers missing part of their arm), so the gold medallist was the person who had the lowest time adjusted for the world record in that class. (In fact, two set world records for their class in the event.)

There’s already some minor ‘disability adjustment’ that seems to happen: swimmers in the totally blind class actually wear opaque goggles, which I think allows people who aren’t quite totally blind to compete.

I think able-bodied people have played wheelchair basketball, but wheelchair basketball is about as ferocious as ice-hockey, and people who have the upper body strength that permanent wheelchair users do have an advantage.

]]> By: James http://maebmij.org/blog/2007/07/12/the-paralympics-as-the-main-competition-of-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-36 James Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:56:38 +0000 http://maebmij.org/blog/2007/07/12/the-paralympics-as-the-main-competition-of-the-future/#comment-36 Thanks for your comment, Mary! I didn't know that about wheelchair marathons - interesting. As for the pool continuing to be limited to people missing limbs for unavoidable reasons: I agree, certainly for the near future; but I wonder if the rules of the Paralympics specifically disallow body modifications which are aesthetic/voluntary? If you did go so far as to <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Amputating-normal-limbs-OK-philosophers/2005/06/24/1119321894526.html" rel="nofollow">have a limb removed</a>, you'd be genuinely as disabled as someone who lost a limb for some other reason - and yet I can see the organisers wanting to take steps to discourage that sort of thing. Thanks for your comment, Mary! I didn’t know that about wheelchair marathons – interesting.
As for the pool continuing to be limited to people missing limbs for unavoidable reasons: I agree, certainly for the near future; but I wonder if the rules of the Paralympics specifically disallow body modifications which are aesthetic/voluntary? If you did go so far as to have a limb removed, you’d be genuinely as disabled as someone who lost a limb for some other reason – and yet I can see the organisers wanting to take steps to discourage that sort of thing.

]]> By: Mary http://maebmij.org/blog/2007/07/12/the-paralympics-as-the-main-competition-of-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-34 Mary Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:20:20 +0000 http://maebmij.org/blog/2007/07/12/the-paralympics-as-the-main-competition-of-the-future/#comment-34 This has been happening with winter sports for a little while longer: specifically, amputee skiing involves a single huge fat ski and a seat you sit on (you face along the ski, not across it like on a snowboard, so the motion is more skiing than boarding). It's quite fast although not yet as fast as able-bodied skiiers. Wheelchair marathons are also considerably faster than able-bodied marathons; fairly intuitive in fact. People have wondered whether this would happen with drugs too: would there be the "chemical assistance" Olympics with the best times and then one for purists? It hasn't yet. I guess the Paralympics thing might be a bit more plausible... but prosthetics don't seem like they'll be so good anytime soon that people will willingly have their limbs replaced with them (if nothing else, general purpose artificial limbs are still way behind ours, and phantom pain is practically a disability of its own), so the pool will continue to be limited to people who happen to have a limb removed for medical reasons or to be missing one from birth. I would think that by and large this limits the interest somewhat: both because the pool of people who are missing a limb and happen to be talented athletes is smaller than the able-bodied pool, and also because of both the stigma of disability and the lack of the "that could be me... if I could jump higher" factor. This has been happening with winter sports for a little while longer: specifically, amputee skiing involves a single huge fat ski and a seat you sit on (you face along the ski, not across it like on a snowboard, so the motion is more skiing than boarding). It’s quite fast although not yet as fast as able-bodied skiiers.

Wheelchair marathons are also considerably faster than able-bodied marathons; fairly intuitive in fact.

People have wondered whether this would happen with drugs too: would there be the “chemical assistance” Olympics with the best times and then one for purists? It hasn’t yet.

I guess the Paralympics thing might be a bit more plausible… but prosthetics don’t seem like they’ll be so good anytime soon that people will willingly have their limbs replaced with them (if nothing else, general purpose artificial limbs are still way behind ours, and phantom pain is practically a disability of its own), so the pool will continue to be limited to people who happen to have a limb removed for medical reasons or to be missing one from birth. I would think that by and large this limits the interest somewhat: both because the pool of people who are missing a limb and happen to be talented athletes is smaller than the able-bodied pool, and also because of both the stigma of disability and the lack of the “that could be me… if I could jump higher” factor.

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