When the Internation Paralympic Committee (IPC) met in Guangzhou, China last December they voted to usher in a new era in paralympic competition. Two more sports will be represented at the 2016 Summer Games: Para-Triathlon and Para-canoeing. 22 total sports are now represented at the Summer Paralympic games, but it could’ve been more…
The IPC meeting was a success, but there decisions weren’t all unanimous. The only thing everyone agreed on was keeping all twenty existing competitions in place. Every other vote from whether to expand to the rate of expansion and including which sports would make the final cut were decided by very slim majorities.
In the end five other sports were left out, but invited to try again for the next Summer games. Sir Philip Craven, President of the IPC said “For those sports that were unsuccessful, we will offer to meet each one individually to offer feedback on why they were not included and what steps they can take to present a stronger case should they decide to apply for inclusion again in future years.”
The IPC released this statement about the 2016 Summer Games:
The IPC would like to thank all seven sports for submitting applications to the IPC to be included in the summer Sports Program. All sports, including those involved in the current Program, were assessed against the same criteria during a lengthy process which started in the second half of 2009. Congratulations must go to para-canoe and para-triathlon who have been admitted to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games program alongside our 20 existing sports. We look forward to working with them over the coming years to manage their smooth transition into the Sports Program in time for 2016.
The International Canoe Federation (ICF) had been campaigning for inclusion in the 2016 games for more than two years leading up to the IPC’s historic decision. Making it into the Paralympic program was the ultimate goal of the ICF’s Canoeing For All Committee who lead the Paracanoe Project. John Edwards, Chair of the Committee stated, “The ICF has pulled off a minor miracle by achieving this result in such a short time. Twenty-eight federations from all Five continents participated in the 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Poznan.”
NOTE: For a more in depth look at the rules and restrictions for Olympic Para-Canoe competitions check out the PDF at the top of the page.
The ICF President, Mr José Perurena López thanks the IPC for their decision, stating “This has been a key strategic project of the ICF over the last two years and we are delighted with this result.”
The ICF-led application for inclusion was made in partnership with the International Va’a Federation. It’s President, Mr Charles Villierme stated, “This is a great day for paddlers throughout the world. The collaboration and strong positive working relationship with the ICF has given Va’a paddling a huge boost world-wide”.
The seven new sports that submitted applications to the IPC were:
Para-badminton, Basketball for athletes with mental disability, Para-Canoe, Para-Golf, Powerchair football, Para-Taekwondo, and Para-Triathlon.
Check out the official site of the Paralympic Games here:Official Paralympic Games Site
Check out the official site of the US Paralympic Teams here:Official US Paralympic Site
