No limbs, no problem
August 8, 2021 3:57 AM   Subscribe

Paralympic Skateboarding seems to defy physics.
posted by jumanjinight (7 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is really neat.

A video link to add in here if I may - Skateboarding in the Paralympics.

I think I’ve mentioned somewhere here before - I am lucky to live near the National Ability Center here in Park City, Utah. They have some pretty kick ass programs for people of all abilities / the adaptive nation. Some of the Paralympians they train also skateboard….. It’s a joy to watch adaptive athletes rocking it - I can tell you nothing gets me motivated to do another snowboard run and go hard than seeing an adaptive skier or boarder (frequently!) zip past me like it ain’t no thing.

If you need a little motivation in your life on what is possible for people of all abilities than the NAC in Utah or the NSCD in Colorado have some awesome content on their various social media channels.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 7:02 AM on August 8, 2021 [5 favorites]


i thot that any sport which was in the olympics had to be in the paralympics?
posted by PinkMoose at 12:51 PM on August 8, 2021


i thot that any sport which was in the olympics had to be in the paralympics?

Sorta.

There some that are in the Olympics only, and others that are included in the Paralympics in certain classifications only.

There are some Paralympic sports (full list) which, for adaptive reasons, are specific to the Paralympics, for example:

Boccia
Goalball
Powerlifting (not to be confused with Olympic weightlifting)
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:06 PM on August 8, 2021 [1 favorite]


such a great answer, thanks!
posted by PinkMoose at 4:28 PM on August 8, 2021


> As for competition classifications, Gale said there’ll likely be a wheelchair class, two-to-three lower-limb classes, an upper limb class and potentially even a blind division.

"Two to three lower-limb classes" took me a moment
posted by xurizaemon at 4:56 PM on August 8, 2021 [2 favorites]


Wheelchair MX (so-called after BMX) is wild.
posted by Erinaceus europaeus at 6:11 PM on August 8, 2021 [7 favorites]


I wonder if any of them are later life amputees who skated at a high level before the limb loss. Just thinking about how hard it would be to relearn the instinctive skills.
posted by MattWPBS at 2:24 AM on August 10, 2021


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