At London 2012, swimming will feature up to 600 swimmers competing in nearly 150 medal events. These include the same four strokes that feature at the Olympic Games (freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke) from a standing or water-based start.
Classification
Swimmers are classified according to their functional ability to perform each stroke. Numbers 1-10 cover athletes with physical impairments – class 1 impairment having greatest impact on ability to perform strokes, through to class 10 swimmers’ impairment having least impact.
Athletes with a visual impairment compete in classes 11-13 – class 11 having little or no sight, through to class 13 having limited sight. Athletes with an intellectual impairment compete in class 14. In addition, several prefixes will denote the type of event; “S” represents Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly events, “SB” denotes Breaststroke events and “SM” refers to Individual Medley events.
Irish interest
Along with Beijing silver medalist Darragh McDonald (S6), two teenagers, Bethany Firth (S14) and James Scully (S5) will head up Irish hopes for at the Aquatic Centre in London 2012. Bethany won a fine silver medal in her favoured 100m backstroke event while James went agonisingly close with three fourth place finishes at 2011’s IPC European Championships in Berlin.
