RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Paralympic Games are in the home stretch, having overcome budget problems to stage a highly successful competition that has seen higher-than-expected attendance and a slew of record-setting performances.
About 4,350 athletes are competing, each with unique differences that have to be classified. Lines have to be drawn to group similar impairments, or impairments that yield similar results. There are 10 impairment groups based on physical, visual and intellectual criteria. But the 22 Paralympic sports adjust the groups to suit their individual events, swelling the classifications to hundreds.
The games needed a bailout from Brazil's government of almost $80 million to make it to the starting line.