The 2014 Sochi Paralympic medals have made a giant step forwards. They are designed the exact same way as the Olympic medals, but they will feature pieces that have never been included on Olympic medals, including inscriptions in braille for the visually impaired for reading.
The front of the medal will depict the Paralympic symbol, while the back will display the emblem of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, as well as the competition name in English. The braille inscriptions will be the first of its kind for the Paralympic Games, a huge step forward for the overall Paralympic movement.
Swimming is the only sport that combines coordination and movement restrictions, weakness or paralysis involving any combination of limbs and other disabilities like vision impairment across the classes. There are three classes allocated to visually impaired swimmers (S11, S12 & S13). Category 11 corresponds to completely blind swimmers, while category 13 have severe but not complete vision impairment.
In the events for visually impaired swimmers all swimmers wear black out goggles, so that partially sighted swimmers and completely blind swimmers complete on a level playing field.
They have three choice for starts, off the starting block, off the edge of the pool, or in the water. The visually impaired events as have “tappers”, who stand at the end of the pool and signal with a pole for the swimmer to turn or finish the race as they approach the wall.
Click here to check out the NBC schedule for the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic schedule.