IPC code GBR Competitors 212 in 18 sports | Website www.paralympics.org.uk | |
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NPC British Paralympic Association Flag bearer Danny Crates (opening)
David Roberts (closing) Medals
Ranked 2nd Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
42
29
31
102 | ||
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.
Contents
- Disability classifications
- Medallists
- Multiple medallists
- Targets
- Archery
- Athletics
- Wheelchair basketball
- Men
- References
Britain finished second in the medal table, behind host nation China, winning 42 gold medals and 102 total medals, equalling the team's position in the medal table at the 2004 Athens Games. The number of medals won was an increase on the 94 medals and 35 golds in Athens. The team was the most successful in two decades, with 80 different athletes winning at least one medal. The United Kingdom was the next host of the Summer Paralympics, holding the 2012 Games in London.
Disability classifications
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. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.
Medallists
The following British competitors won medals at the games, all dates are September 2008. In the 'by discipline' sections below, medallists' names are in bold.
Multiple medallists
The following competitors won multiple medals at the 2008 Paralympic Games.
Targets
In July 2008, UK Sport, the body responsible for the distribution of National Lottery funding to elite sport, published its expectations for the Games. It identified a 112 "stretch" medal target and expected to win 95 of them, including around 35 gold medals in order to finish second in the medal table.
The athletes met the expectations of UK Sport for total medals, gold medals and medal table position, finishing second behind hosts China with 42 gold and 102 total medals. It should be noted that the medals claimed were not all ones that had been targeted, the team fell short of targets in some sports whilst it exceeded them in others; out of the fifteen sports set a target eight succeeded in meeting them.
Archery
Great Britain's archery squad for the Games included twelve athletes. In all, four archery medals, two gold, one silver and one bronze, were won by British archers, which meant that they finished second in the archery medal table. John Stubbs, a former England disabled cricketer, set a new world record score of 691 in the ranking round on the route to victory in the men's individual compound open. In the equivalet women's event Danielle Brown beat compatriot, and eventual bronze medallist, Mel Clarke before going on to win the gold.
Legend: WR – World record; W – Won; L – Lost; N/A – Round not applicable for the event;
Athletics
The GB Paralympic team included thirty–five competitors in the sport of athletics, amongst them reigning champions Kenny Churchill, Danny Crates, Daniel Greaves and Stephen Miller. David Weir failed in his attempts to win five gold medals at the Games after suffering from a virus, but did win four medals; two gold, one silver, one bronze; before pulling out of his final event.
British participants were involved in a number of controversies regarding the reallocation of medals during the Games. Shelly Woods was initially awarded the silver medal in the women's 5000 m T54, but a rerun was ordered by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) after the Australian, US and Swiss teams protested the result because six competitors were involved in a crash on the penultimate lap. When the race was rerun Woods won the bronze medal. David Weir believed he had won the gold medal in the men's 800 m T54 but a rerun of the race was ordered after it was discovered that the Australian silver medallist, Kurt Fearnley, had begun the race in the wrong lane. Following a letter from Fearnley and the Australian authorities to the IPC, which asked that the result not be overturned in the spirit of sportsmanship, the rerun was cancelled and Weir's medal reinstated. Discus thrower Rebecca Chin was originally awarded the silver medal in the women's F37–38, but her classification was challenged and Chin was deemed ineligible for the event, stripped of her medal, and her results were erased. The decision was particularly controversial given that Chin had already been assessed earlier in the Games whilst she competed in the women's F37–38 shot put final.
* Originally awarded the silver medal but stripped of medal and results following a challenge to her classification.
Wheelchair basketball
Britain qualified teams in both the men's and women's events. The women's team finished eighth out of ten competing teams, whilst the men, matching their achievement at 2004 Athens Games, won the bronze medal.
Men
Legend: PTS – Points; Pld – Played; W – Games won; D – Games drawn; L – Games lost; PF – Points for; PA – Points against; PD – Points difference; – Qualified for quarterfinals;