A1 (classification)

Sports people in this class are eligible to participate in include athletics, swimming, sitting volleyball, archery, weightlifting, badminton, lawn bowls, sitzball and wheelchair basketball.

[1][11][12] Lower limb amputations effect a person's energy cost for being mobile.

To keep their oxygen consumption rate similar to people without lower limb amputations, they need to walk slower.

[12] People in this class use around 120% more oxygen to walk or run the same distance as someone without a lower limb amputation.

[11] Prosthetic fitting and functionality in this class can differ depending on where, between the knee and hip, the amputation exists.

The lower the amputation, the greater the lever the prosthetic user has using prosthesis and the more control they have in its usage.

[11] Because of the potential for balance issues related to having an amputation, during weight training, amputees are encouraged to use a spotter when lifting more than 15 pounds (6.8 kg).

[1][13] IWAS was created following the merger of ISOD and International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF) in 2005.

[1] Above the knee amputees have difficulty using standard able-bodied sprint actions because of the differences in their functional muscle mass.

This technique involves using hip extensions to avoid deceleration caused by the prosthetic leg hitting the ground.

[17] In shot put, people in this class often plant their left leg against the toe board when they begin the glide stage of their throw.

[8] Despite wheelchair basketball having been around since the first Paralympic Games, amputee players from this class were first allowed to be classified and participate internationally in 1983 following the creation of a functional classification system in Cologne, Germany by Horst Strokhkendl.

The International Paralympic Committee defined that class as "Competitors with severe disabilities in both lower limbs ...

[18] Other sports people in this class are eligible to compete in include sitting volleyball, archery, and weightlifting.

[2][5][18] In the case of weightlifting, amputees have also traditionally been grouped together, with divisions being based on weight instead.

In 1991, the first internationally accepted adaptive rowing classification system was established and put into use.

[2][11] The classification system takes several things into account when putting people into this class.

[33] Sometimes the health examination may not be done on site because the nature of the amputation could cause not physically visible alterations to the body.

[34] For wheelchair basketball, part of the classification process involves observing a player during practice or training.