2020 TOKYO SUMMER PARALYMPIC GAMES
- When: Pool swimming: Wednesday, August 25 – Friday, September 3, 2021
- Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
- Heats: 9 AM / Finals: 5 PM (Local time)
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EXPLANATION OF PARA CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
- There are 14 classifications for Paralympic swimmers, typically denoted as “S” followed by a number.
- “SB” designates an athletes classification for breaststroke events
- “SM” is for individual medley events
- Athletes with physical impairments are classified in S1-S10, SB1-SB9, and SM1-SM10 with numbers 1-10 ranging from more severe activity limitations to less severe limitations.
- Athletes with visual impairments are classified in S/SB11-13.
- Athletes with intellectual impairments are classified in S/SB14.
- The Paralympics are not the “Para Olympics” or anything similar. The International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee are separate organizations with separate leadership and separate events that happen to have a partnership to organize their crowned jewels more efficiently.
Day six of the Tokyo Paralympics saw 18 total Paralympic records fall, the most broken in one day thus far, along with 10 re-written World records. On day two, 12 World records were broken across the day’s prelims/finals sessions, along with 15 Paralympic records. Yesterday, 5 World records fell while 14 new Paralympic standards were put up.
After six days of competition in Tokyo, 47 World records and 81 Paralympic records have been re-established, with four more days of prelims and finals to go.
Broken World/Paralympic Records After Day 6
| Day | World Records | Paralympic Records |
| Day 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Day 2 | 12 | 15 |
| Day 3 | 9 | 11 |
| Day 4 | 9 | 13 |
| Day 5 | 5 | 14 |
| Day 6 | 10 | 18 |
| 47 | 81 |
DAY 6 Prelims: 6 Paralympic, 1 World Record(s)
Kicking off the session by establishing two new records in one swim was Argentina’s Pipo Carlomagno, whose S7 men’s 100 back time of 1:09.12 took down the 2012 Paralympic record and re-wrote new Americas/South American continental records.
Taking down her own 2019 World record in the S6 women’s 50 fly was China’s Jiang Yuyan, improving her personal best by three-tenths at 34.56. The 2016 Paralympic record of 35.58 also went down. Qualifying third into the final was Elizabeth Marks of the USA, setting a new Americas record at 36.84.
In the S5 men’s 50 back, China’s Ruan Jingsong dropped 2.67s off his entry time of 35.94 to top the prelims standings at 33.27. His time also took down the 2012 Paralympic record of 34.99 by 1.72s.
Out of the S5 women’s 50 back, China’s Lu Dong chopped 1.03s off the 2008 Paralympic record with a time of 40.00.
Out of the S3 women’s 100 free heats, two different class records were broken. Mexico’s Fabiola Ramirez placed 10th overall at 2:32.47, establishing a new S2 class Americas record. Placing 15th was Turkey’s Elif Ildem, whose time of 3:17.54 was ten seconds under the S1 class Paralympic record of 3:27.47, which came from the 2000 Sydney Games.
Taking down the SM11 men’s 200 IM Paralympic record from 2012 was Rogier Dorsman of the Netherlands, registering a time of 2:20.75, shaving 1.65s off the original 2:22.40 mark.
DAY 6 Finals: 9 World, 12 Paralympic Records
In the S7 men’s 100 back, Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov bettered the the 2019 World record of 1:08.92 with a lifetime best of 1:08.14. His time also surpassed the newly-minted prelims Paralympic record of 1:09.12 from prelims, set by Argentina’s Pipo Carlomagno. The Argetine’s silver medal time of 1:08.83 did set new Americas/South American records.
Out of the S9 class final, RPC’s Bogdan Mozgovoi took down the 2012 Paralympic record of 1:02.39 by 0.74s with a gold medal time of 1:01.65.
In the S7 women’s 100 back, American Mallory Weggemann improved her 1:22.68 entry time with the gold medal time of 1:21.27. That time wrote over the original 2016 Paralympic record by 1.45s.
In the S9 class, USA’s Hannah Aspden slimmed 0.61s off her prelims swim to set a new Americas continental record with the gold medal time of 1:09.22, just 0.04s off of the 2016 Paralympic record.
Israel’s Ami Omer Dadaon dropped six seconds off his own S4 men’s 200 free World record with the gold medal time of 2:44.84. His time was also 11 seconds under the Paralympic record from the 2008 Beijing Games.
Earning the bronze medal in the S6 women’s 50 fly was Elizabeth Marks of the USA, setting a new Americas record of 36.83.
Shortly after, China finished 1-2-3 in the S5 men’s 50 back, led by gold medalist Zheng Tao. He bettered his own World record from June 2021 with a time of 31.42, the first sub-32 time in the class. His time also eclipsed the Paralympic record time of 33.27, set in prelims by runner-up Ruan Jingsong (32.97).
Another Chinese swimmer claiming a Paralympic title in World/Paralympic record-breaking fashion was Lu Dong, winning the women’s edition of the S5 50 back with a time of 37.18. The former World record of 38.68 was set back in 2010. Dong had set the Paralympic record in prelims at 40.00, but entered this meet with a time of 39.19.
After breaking the SM11 men’s 200 IM Paralympic record in prelims at 2:20.75, Dutchman Rogier Dorsman broke the 2:20-barrier by breaking his June 2021 World record of 2:20.40 at 2:19.02.
Another pair of World and Paralympic records fell in the following event, the SM11 women’s 200 IM. Ma Jia led a Chinese 1-2 finish with her winning time of 2:42.12. Her time took down both the 2012 Paralympic record and 2019 World record by more than four seconds. Anastasia Pagonis of the USA earned the bronze medal at 2:45.91, setting a new Americas record.
Italy’s Arjola Trimi broke the S3 women’s 100 free European record with her gold medal time of 1:30.22, winning by 7.46s.
Belarus’ Ihar Boki picked up his fourth Paralympic title in Tokyo in the SM13 men’s 200 IM with a new World record of 2:02.70, bettering his own 2:03.79 standard from 2013. His time also cleared his 2016 Paralympic record of 2:04.02. The title became Boki’s 15th career Paralympic title and 17th career Paralympic medal. USA’s David Henry Abrahams set a new Americas record with his fourth-place time of 2:12.67.
In the women’s version, Italy’s Carlotta Gilli took 0.38s off the 2018 World record with a time of 2:21.44. Her time also took down the 2016 Paralympic record of 2:24.43.
In the final event of the session, the 34 points men’s 4×100 free relay, the Aussie quartet of Rowan Crothers, William Martin, Matthew Levy, and Ben Popham took down the May 2021 World record and 2016 Paralympic record with a total time of 3:44.31.
Leading off Italy’s runner-up relay was Antonio Fantin, whose 100 free flat-start time of 1:04.20 set a new S6 Paralympic record, which formerly stood at 1:04.70 from the 2016 Rio Games. Fantin will swim the individual event on Wednesday in Tokyo. He is the current World record-holder at 1:03.76, which came from May 2021.
DAY 6 MEDAL TABLE
| RANK | NATION | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  CHINA (CHN) |
13 | 12 | 13 | 38 |
| 2 |  Italy (ITA) |
9 | 9 | 5 | 23 |
| 3 |  RPC (RPC) |
9 | 6 | 13 | 28 |
| 4 |  Ukraine (UKR) |
8 | 13 | 3 | 24 |
| 5 |  United States (USA) |
8 | 4 | 8 | 20 |
| 6 |  Great Britain (GBR) |
6 | 6 | 4 | 16 |
| 7 |  Australia (AUS) |
5 | 6 | 10 | 21 |
| 8 |  Belarus (BLR) |
5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 |  Brazil (BRA) |
4 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| 10 |  Israel (ISR) |
4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 11 |  Netherlands (NED) |
3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 12 |  Japan (JPN) |
2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 13 |  Spain (ESP) |
1 | 8 | 0 | 9 |
| 14 |  Canada (CAN) |
1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
 Colombia (COL) |
1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |
| 16 |  New Zealand (NZL) |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 |  Chile (CHI) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 Hungary (HUN) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
 Ireland (IRL) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 20 |  Mexico (MEX) |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 21 |  Azerbaijan (AZE) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Singapore (SIN) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 23 |  France (FRA) |
0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 24 |  Argentina (ARG) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 |  Germany (GER) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 Greece (GRE) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
 Uzbekistan (UZB) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 28 |  Cyprus (CYP) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Lithuania (LTU) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Turkey (TUR) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Paralympic disability categories under fire over fairness
https://www.ynetnews.com/culture/article/sk8jixqwf
Both Theo Curin and Daniel Dias have spoken regarding the S5 class, Andre Brazil the S10 class and Jessica Long the S8 class. The opportunities for swimmers in the S1 and S2 classes are going to be further reduced for Paris 2024 apparently whilst some countries are fielding teams that are obviously ‘increasingly abled’ in nature in Tokyo. The IPC’s response to the elephant in the room is, as always, completely inappropriate, horribly disrespectful and totally inadequate.
This is the first major international meet since they revamped the classification system and all the major swimming countries attended? That is probably the root cause of all the records being set since many swimmers received lower classes than they previously held. Still have a lot of medals being won and records being set in the classification room though I don’t really know if that is really true just my gut instinct.
And some, like Andre, excluded altogether whilst one of the main serial classification offenders STILL ends up on top of the podium after going through exactly the same ‘fair’ system. At its best it’s an outrageously flawed system and medals are indeed ‘won’ in the classification rooms. At its worst, given the above illustrated outcomes (from 2019 no less) well, it is completely sick that the IPC supported the system through to the pinnacle event on the calendar, just completely and inexcusably sick. They should not be within a horse whisker of the #wethe15 movement.