Para-cycling classification

The classification system includes classes for handcycles for people who have lower limb mobility issues.

People with cerebral palsy or non-progressive brain damage were eligible for classification by them.

For their classification system, people with spina bifida were not eligible unless they had medical evidence of loco-motor dysfunction.

People with cerebral palsy and epilepsy were eligible provided the condition did not interfere with their ability to compete.

[12] Because of issues in objectively identifying functionality that plagued the post Barcelona Games, the IPC unveiled plans to develop a new classification system in 2003.

This classification system went into effect in 2007, and defined ten different disability types that were eligible to participate on the Paralympic level.

Under UCI rules, a professional cyclist must not be active for 12 months in any UCI professional tour (starting January 1 of the year) or be selected to any national team in a UCI-sanctioned championship, except Masters (over 40), in order to apply as a para-cycling pilot.

Craig MacLean, who medaled at the Olympic Games in 2000, retired in 2008 and began serving as a guide in 2011 after sitting out the required two years.

International classification is undertaken by a UCI panel which consists of "a medical doctor, a physiotherapist and a sports technician" who will assess the athlete and assign them a class.

[14] The evaluation is done in English, and athletes are allowed to be accompanied by an interpreter and/or a representative of their country's National Federation in the sport.

[1] At the 1992 Summer Paralympics, cerebral palsy, amputee and wheelchair disability types were eligible to participate, with classification being run through multiple federations and the International Paralympic Committee, with classification being done based on disability type.

This policy was put into place in 2014, with the goal of avoiding last minute changes in classes that would negatively impact athlete training preparations.

All competitors needed to be internationally classified with their classification status confirmed prior to the Games, with exceptions to this policy being dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

[33] As of 2012[update], disability sport's major classification body, the International Paralympic Committee, is working on improving classification to be more of an evidence-based system as opposed to a performance-based system so as not to punish elite athletes whose performance makes them appear in a higher class alongside competitors who train less.