Classificação esportiva para atletas com deficiência visual e sua relação com o desempenho na natação

Abstract

-The medical classification (MC) adopted for swimmers with vision visual impairment (VI) does not clearly elucidate the influence of vision loss on performance. In a documentary research, the final time in the 50-, 100-and 400-m freestyle events and MC (S11, S12 and S13) of national (n = 40) and international (n = 72) elite swimmers was analyzed. The analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman's correlation with 95% confidence (P < 0.05) and Cohen's d was calculated. There was a large effect of MC on the final time in the 50-m (P = 0.034, d = 1.55) for national athletes and in the 50-m (P = 0.001, d = 2.64), 100-m (P = 0.001, d = 3.01) and 400-m (P = 0.001, d = 2.88) for international athletes. S12 and S13 classes were faster compared to S11 class for all international events, but only in the 50-m for the national event (P < 0.05). It was found a strong negative relationship between the final time and MC for international athletes (Spearman's Rho ≥ 0.78). There was a significant influence of MC on the performance of swimmers in freestyle races, especially in international swimmers. Thus, having a visual residue seems to be sufficient for S12 and S13 swimmers to achieve similar performance.Key words: Athletic performance; Blindness; Low vision; Sports for persons with disabilities. Resumo -A classificação médica (CM) adotada aos nadadores com deficiência visual (DV) não consegue elucidar claramente a influência da perda da visão no desempenho. Em uma pesquisa documental, analisou-se o tempo final de prova dos 50, 100 e 400m livre e a CM (S11, S12 e S13) de nadadores nacionais (n = 40) e internacionais (n = 72) de elite. Utilizou-se o teste deKruskal-Wallis e a correlação de Spearman, com 95% de confiança (P < 0,05) (P = 0,034; d = 1,55) para atletas nacionais e dos 50m (P = 0,001; d = 2,64), 100m (P = 0,001; d = 3,01) e 400m (P = 0,001; d = 2,88) para atletas internacionais. As classes S12 e S13 foram mais rápidas comparadas à classe S11 em todas as provas internacionais, mas apenas nos 50m nas provas nacionais (P < 0,05

Paratriathlon Race Performance in High-Level Athletes With Visual Impairments

“…Interestingly, the same behavior (i.e., lower tandem track race performance in blind athletes) was seen over 20 yrs of World Championships and Paralympic Games. The same was observed in swimming, where S11 athletes showed lower performance than S12 and S13 athletes 11 and, in sprint running, with blind athletes (T11) performing worse in sprint and jump tests (i.e., squat jump and jump squat) than partially sighted sprinters (T12 and T13) 12 . On the other hand, considering VI classes of the paratriathlon, no differences were observed in time-trial performance and velocity in the female athletes in swimming and running, for the whole group (Fig.…”

Classification in Para skiing: do better performing skiers have better visual functions?

“…A four-round Delphi study completed in 2016 with 25 VI sports experts had concluded that current classification systems do not account for the unique visual demands or the performance environments of each sport and that new evidence-based systems should be designed ( 5 ). Based on the guidelines provided by the classification code ( 6 ) and joint position statement ( 7 ), various studies have been conducted by experts in different Para sports such as shooting ( 8 , 9 ), swimming ( 10 , 11 ), and Judo ( 12 – 14 ) to design sports-specific evidence-based classification systems ( 10 ).…”