ITU News: International Paralympic Committee’s VISTA Conference

Speaking on the second day of the International Paralympic Committee’s VISTA Conference, Yves Vanlandewyck, Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven, told delegates that a more multi-disciplinary approach to classification research needs to be taken.Around 200 sports scientists and researchers, classifiers, coaches, trainers and sport administrators, are in the IPC’s home city of Bonn, Germany for the three day long conference which this year has the theme `A multi-disciplinary approach to Paralympic success’.“One of the greatest challenges in classification is to facilitate collaboration from all those people who have to be there to solve the issues, such as athletes, classifiers and researchers,” said Vanlandewyck, who is also Chairperson of the IPC’s Sport Science Committee.“You need to understand the sport. You need to understand the impairment level and the interaction between both, and you need to understand the concept that we are working with, which is this triangle of impairment, performance and the impact of training.”Classification is a structure for competition which defines which impairment groups can compete in the various sports.Athletes are classified by the degree of activity limitation related to their impairment and/or specific to the tasks in the sport.Another challenge according to Vanlandewyck is the need to keep classification simple enough for people watching, but detailed enough so the sport stays dynamic and competitors within a class are similar in terms of the degree of activity limitation.“You can make classification very simple. In Wheelchair Basketball for instance we could put all athletes in the same chair, give them a high back-rest, strap the trunk to the back-rest and the only thing they can do is move their head and their arms,” he explained.“This would result in not too much difference between a high level paraplegic and an amputee. But it would ruin the sport.“Athletes would never accept it because it would limit the person in demonstrating his whole potential in what they can do. It’s not the way to go.”Vanlandewyck told the audience of the importance of sports specific classification and the need to classify according to events.“In Athletics some classes, such as T53 and T54, are combined in the 1500m, but are split into two classes in the 800m because the impact of the impairment on performance is different,” Vanlandewyck said.In the future...

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ITU opens doors to a new office in Lausanne

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) celebrated the beginning of a new era in Lausanne with the opening of a new office in the Olympic capital. Just prior to the Lausanne round of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series, which included the ITU Sprint Triathlon World Championships and the ITU Team Triathlon World Championships, the ITU hosted a reception to christen its office and meet its new neighbours at the Maison du Sport International.ITU President Marisol Casado welcomed the guests, among them Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli, Olympic gold medallists Jan Frodeno and Emma Snowsill, Athletes Committee members Laurent Vidal and Jessica Harrison, Gold Group athletes Andrea Hewitt and Alexander Brukhankov, as well as staff from many other International sports Federations, National Federations and from the City of Lausanne.President Casado spoke of ITU’s dream to continue to build a strong connection with the IOC (International Olympic Commission) and the Olympic family and the establishment of an ITU office in Lausanne would strengthen those relationships.Gilbert Felli also addressed the attendees, speaking about triathlon’s recent history and bright future. He welcomed the ITU with open arms to the IOC’s home city of Lausanne.The new office contains some triathlon memorabilia and photos of all the Olympic gold medallists. ITU’s headquarters will remain in Vancouver, Canada but the Lausanne office will contain the core European staff including most of the Sport Department. The ITU President’s office also remains in Madrid, Spain.
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Ironman Story: Handicapping Age Groupers at the 70.3 Worlds (2011/9/1)

Lee Gruenfeld previews our age group race at the Marine Corps Ironman World Championship 70.3
Released on Thursday, September 1, 2011

Part 1: The Distaff Side: If the first thing that popped into your mind upon reading the above headline was "Tonya Harding," you need help.No, what we're talking about is trying to predict winners in the fiercely competitive age group divisions at the Worlds in Las Vegas. While it's nice to watch all those people come charging down the finish line long after the pros have come in, it's even more fun when you realize that there are a lot of terrific athletes and grand rivalries, some of which have been going on for years at various distances all the way up to the full 140.6-mile Ironman. What's Next?

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