IPC code GBR Competitors 2 in 1 sport | Website www.paralympics.org.uk 0 0 | |
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NPC British Paralympic Association Medals
Ranked =23th Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
0
0
0
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Great Britain competed at the 2002 Winter Paralympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from 7 to 16 March 2002. The team was able to be made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who elected to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, were eligible to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. However no Northern Irish athletes took part in the Winter Paralympics until 2010 in Vancouver. In order to be eligible to take part in the Games athletes had to have a disability that fell into one of the six Paralympics disability categories.
Contents
Two British athletes competed, both in alpine skiing events, and no medals were won. The size of the team was a decrease from that which had entered previous Games, in the 1998 Winter Paralympics 20 British athletes had participated. One reason for this is that whilst funding for the two athletes was provided by the British Paralympic Association, it totalled only £1,500 compared to the £4 million worth of funding available to British athletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Disability classification
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Events with "B" in the code are for athletes with visual impairment, codes LW1 to LW9 are for athletes who stand to compete and LW10 to LW12 are for athletes who compete sitting down. Each different number refers to a different severity of impairement and defines the equipment that competitors may use; e.g. LW4 is for athletes with a single leg amputation below the knee who compete using two skis and two poles.
Alpine skiing
Both of Britain's athletes at the Games competed in alpine skiing events, funding for the two athletes was provided by the British Paralympic Association. Russell Docker, who was paralysed from the waist down following a skiing accident in 1995, appeared at the Paralympics for the first time and competed in the LW12 classification. He crashed out in the downhill event and failed to complete his other three races. Stephen Napier, who was disabled after being knocked off a motorbike by an unmarked police car in 1995, also competed in four events in the LW10 classification. His highest finish was sixth in the Super-G and he also had three seventh-place finishes. In each of his events Napier was the lowest ranked athlete to complete the course.
To ensure a fair event when athletes with differing disabilities compete, times achieved are sometimes modified by a factor percentage, to produce a result known as "Calculated Time". It is this time that decides the result of the races. Actual times recorded is also listed.