Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[2][3] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.[4]
Argentina qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in this sport at the Montreal hosted 2015 BisFed Americas Pair and Team championship in the Teams BC1/BC2 event. They claimed gold ahead of silver medalist Brazil and bronze medalists Canada.[5][6]
With one pathway for qualification being one highest ranked NPCs on the UCI Para-Cycling male and female Nations Ranking Lists on 31 December 2014, Argentina qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, assuming they continued to meet all other eligibility requirements.[7][8]
Argentina qualified for the Paralympics by finishing second the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto, Canada and the IBSA Blind Football World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. Both finishes were behind host nation, Brazil, who earned an automatic qualifying berth.[9][10][11][12]
The following is the Argentina squad in the football 5-a-side tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[13]
Argentina playing Ukraine at the IFCPF Pre Paralympic Tournament Salou 2016, the last major preparation event ahead of the Rio Games
Argentina qualified for the Paralympics through the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto after Iran's qualifying spot was withdrawn because of a lack of competitors in their region.[14][15]
The draw for the tournament was held on May 6 at the 2016 Pre Paralympic Tournament in Salou, Spain. Argentina was put into Group B with the United States, Netherlands and Russia.[16] Iran qualified for the 2016 Rio Games following the suspension of Russia. The IPC ruled that there could not be a redraw for the groups. This resulted in Iran being put into Group A with the Netherlands, Argentina and the United States.[17]
The tournament where the Paralympic draw took place featured 7 of the 8 teams participating in Rio. It was the last major preparation event ahead of the Rio Games for all teams participating.[18] Argentina finished 7th after losing placement matches to the United States 4 - 3 and Ireland 0 - 3.[19][20][21]
Going into the Rio Games, the country was ranked sixth in the world.[22]
Argentina earned a qualifying spot at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in this sport following their performance at the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint & Paracanoe World Championships in Milan, Italy where the top six finishers in each Paralympic event earned a qualifying spot for their nation. Lucas Nicolas Diaz earned the spot for Argentina after finishing fourth in the men's KL1 event.[23][24] The competition took place at Lagoa Stadium.
One pathway for qualifying for Rio involved having a boat have top seven finish at the 2015 Combined World Championships in a medal event where the country had not already qualified through via the 2014 IFDS Sailing World Championships. Argentina qualified for the 2016 Games under this criterion in the 2.4m event with a sixteenth-place finish overall and the sixth country who had not qualified via the 2014 Championships. The boat was crewed by Tomas Saez Raffaelli.[25][26][27] Yet, the boat was crewed at the 2016 Games by Juan Fernández Ocampo, who previously competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games.
The Argentina women's national wheelchair basketball team has qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[28] As hosts, Brazil got to choose which group they were put into. They were partnered with Algeria, who would be put in the group they did not choose. Brazil chose Group A, which included Canada, Germany, Great Britain and Argentina. Algeria ended up in Group B with the United States, the Netherlands, France and China.[29]
^"CYCLING QUALIFICATION"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2014. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
^"Rankings". IFCPF. 2015. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
^"CANOE Qualification"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
^"Sailing Qualification"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^"2.4m". Royal Yacht Club Victoria. 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
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