Discussing Disabilities

Banning Russia and Belarus The Olympic Truce has many parts to it that all participating countries must follow. The International Olympic Truce Centre was created in 2000 and promotes the Ancient Greek tradition of Olympic Truce. Its purpose is to establish peace, friendship, and understanding through sports. The Truce is designed so that the environment during the games is a peaceful and safe one, as there can be a lot of tension and anxiety during events such as the Olympics and Paralympics. The agreement that all participating countries sign states that there must be no hostilities between countries during the weeks of the games and the week before and after to ensure that all athletes make it to the games and back home safely.  A Forbes article states that Russia had signed the agreement to follow the Olympic Truce, but Russia broke that agreement by invading Ukraine. Belarus was very supportive of Russia during the invasion, so Belarus also broke the Truce. In March 202...

 What is Classification? Because of the many types of disabilities there are, it is difficult to create an equal playing field in disabled sports. In order to make games more fair, athletes in disabled sports need to be classified. The IPC defines classification as a system that determines who is eligible to compete and who competes together. Classification is accomplished by assessing to what degree the impairment affects the athlete's ability to perform. Classification must be evidence-based to ensure that they are credible and truthful to the athletes impairment level.  Classifications differ across every sport because each sport requires an athlete to do different things and use different parts of their body in different ways. Each sport has different requirements for the athlete and also for the classifier. Many sports require the classifier to have been an athlete in that sport and experience in the medical field relating to the disability.  For the Paralympic...