CSB - Rebecca Foulsham: World Para Athletics Head of Classification

World Para Athletics Head of Classification Rebecca Foulsham joins Hamish McKay to chat what the letters and numbers mean in each classification of events at the Paralympics

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is coming up to twenty one minutes after eight.
The world, of course, the Paralympics underway, with the opening
ceremony happening in Paris. Now there has been no doubt
that our Saphy pass goes and we could go on
and on about our fantastic competitors and so enjoyed talking
to neilam O'Neil yesterday morning, our pistol shooter, that the
Paralympic Games are getting a huge following and with that

(00:23):
we would like to have a little bit more of
an understanding. Now, the World para Athletics Head of Classification
is Rebecca Fulsham, who joins us now.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good morning, Rebecca, Good morning, homers.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Great chat right here. I'm just going to say opening
ceremony is going on. But because of this kind of
just great interest, can we get a bit of a
clarification around what the sort of numbers mean and how
the various levels of I guess expertise or how it's
all measured.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It can be confusing if you're
looking at it for a first time. You're about to
watch the games over the next ten couple of weeks.
So the classification what it is determines who might be
eligible for a Paralympic sport and then puts them into
the class. It's like you say, the things with the
numbers and the letters and things like that. So we

(01:12):
do this so that we can have good competitive sport
and so that the outcome of the sport isn't determined
by how severe perhaps your diagnosis or your impedment is. Yeah,
so that's why we kind of go about that, and
it's because what it means is it gives us a
framework to have meaningful competition so that the people with
the best athletic skills do well, so that the things

(01:36):
just like any other sports, so that your skills, your abilities,
your training, your determination actually determines your sporting excellence. So
each sport has its own classification system. So it's really
sports specific, which is why you get your seat all
of these numbers and come into play. It's not that
we can just give everybody one class and then that's

(01:58):
what they compete in across the board.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
That's fantastic is that sports specific because they know, you know,
they can, they have that they've got the sort of
they've got the knowledge, I guess to make those decisions
and a framework for for because these these these I
loved them. Yesterday when we had Nelomonial on, she said,
you know where the powers are they able ones? You know,
it was very like, yeah, we've got we've got our
thing here and we are super competitive, which they are,

(02:23):
aren't they? You know, and they want it to be that,
don't they.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Absolutely? Absolutely, So the games itself, the athletes that are
there and those people like me that watch it, we're
watching it for that sporting competition and rather than you know,
looking to see what these what these people can do,
it's actually about their sport. There are sports, but yeah,
I mean the higher, the wider vision of the International
Paralympic Committee is to have that increased visibility and to

(02:51):
lead to more inclusive world. But in terms of the
actual competition, it's really about sports. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, loving that. So we shouldn't it too
hung up on the on the letter and the number
or things like that.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's just yeah, so that can help you if you
if you're interested, Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the letter
usually is around so if I give it's sort of
helps if I use some sporting examples. So the letter
might tell you about which type of event somebody's done. So,
in say swimming, if you've got an S before your letter,

(03:24):
that might be for your freestyle. So if I use
Jesse Reynolds classifications as an example, is an S nine
that's for his freestyle class, is an SB eight that's
his breaststroke class, and then he is an s M
nine which is the medley. So you can see that
the numbers the letters relate to which type of event,
the event it might be, or sometimes just which board

(03:45):
it is, and then the number tells you which class
you're on.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Right, Okay, that's great, fantastic, Well that's helping us sit
back and then enjoy the Paralympics coming up. Thank you
very much for that, Rebecca much appreciate Rebecca Fulsham their
World Para Athletics Head of Classification clarification around that wonderful