The International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) has launched a search for hosts of major Championships in athletics, rowing, football, table tennis, swimming and alpine and Nordic skiing until 2021.

Competitions in Europe, Asia and the Americas in athletics and swimming highlight the list as World Intellectual Impairment Sport looks to expand its regional calendar.

Later this year Santiago del Estero will become the first city to stage the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Swimming Championships (Americas) between 29 August – 2 September. The event will be the first competition in any World Intellectual Impairment Sport sport to be hosted in the region and marks the start of a wider campaign for other sports.

Hosts are wanted for the 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Athletics Championships (Asia) and the 2020 editions for Europe, Asia and the Americas. Football and table tennis are searching for bids from countries in Asia and the Americas for their regional Championships.

The 2020 indoor athletics, half marathon, alpine and Nordic skiing and indoor rowing World Championships are also on offer.

Marc Truffaut, World Intellectual Impairment Sport President, said: “In 2018 we are really getting our plans to create an ambitious, more diverse competition calendar underway. It will give the world’s best athletes with intellectual impairments the chance to compete more often at the highest levels.

“We are also opening up the bidding process much earlier so we can secure hosts at least two years before in some cases. This will allow us to work with organisers more effectively, raise the standards of our competitions and provide an all-round high quality experience for everyone involved.

“Hosting an World Intellectual Impairment Sport competition is a very important responsibility. For some athletes it will be the highest level they may compete at and for others it could be their chance to qualify for a Paralympic Games. It is hugely important that we get everything right and we are here to guide and advise organisers at every step of the way.”

Information for organisers

In total, World Intellectual Impairment Sport is looking for hosts for 20 major events between 2018-2021. A full list of competitions, alongside bid documents and deadlines, can be found on the World Intellectual Impairment Sport website.

Bid must meet the specifications for each sport which can be found here.

World Intellectual Impairment Sport is also looking for hosts for the 2023 edition of the Global Games – the world’s biggest high performance sports event for athletes with intellectual impairments.

Sport for athletes with an intellectual impairment can sometimes be confusing for onlookers.

Some ask ‘why do people who are able bodied get to compete at the Paralympic Games?’ or ‘why does there need to be separate competitions for these athletes?’

The simple answer is that there are many adaptations athletes with intellectual impairments need to make in both training and competitions.

So in order to create a level playing field, like other athletes with impairments, they must meet a certain criteria and compete against others who have a similar level of functioning.

“In basic terms an intellectual impairment means that a person finds it harder to learn, understand and communicate. This has a significant impact on their abilities within sports,” Jan Burns, World Intellectual Impairment Sport’ Head of Eligibility and resident expert, said.

“Things which able-bodied athletes consider routine, such as race tactics, pacing or learning where the best take-off point is for jumps, are harder to for athletes with intellectual impairments.

“For example in a 10,000m race you would ideally want to save yourself for the final few laps. But athletes with intellectual impairments may not be able to manage and adjust to a consistent pace and to resist the impulse of setting an early high pace if the runner beside them sets off fast.

“It also extends to training – if you find it harder to learn from any mistakes or remember what your coach has told you, by the time you get to the track, field or pool you might not be as prepared as someone who can.”

So who decides who is eligible to compete?

There are 14 sports on the World Intellectual Impairment Sport programme. Athletes can compete at the Paralympic Games in three of these – athletics, swimming and table tennis.

For the Paralympic sports there is a two-step process. The first is know as ‘eligibility’. This stage is managed by World Intellectual Impairment Sport and means that an athlete has an eligible impairment.

“We used the World Health Organisation definition to create criteria within which athletes are considered eligible to compete,” Burns explained. “These include an IQ of 75 or less, significant limitations in adaptive behaviour in social and practical situations and the impairments must have been diagnosed before the age of 18.”

Countries submit psychological assessments and other paperwork to World Intellectual Impairment Sport which they think shows that an athlete meets the criteria. These are then assessed by the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Eligibility Panel – made up of a group of expert psychologists from around the world.

Athletes with intellectual impairments compete in the II1 group at World Intellectual Impairment Sport competitions. This is also known as S14 in swimming, T/F20 for athletics and class 11 in table tennis.

For those three sports, once an athlete is found eligible by World Intellectual Impairment Sport, they must then be classified by the relevant International Federation (World Para Athletics, World Para Swimming and the International Table Tennis Federation). Classification determines whether or not an athlete’s impairment affects their sport performance in that particular sport.

“In the other sports not on the Paralympic programme, World Intellectual Impairment Sport uses eligibility to determine whether they can compete,” Burns explained. “We are developing classification systems in other sports, like basketball, but there is a huge amount of research that needs to be done to make them specific to each sport.”

“I think it’s quite incredible how athletes with intellectual impairments compete,” Burns said. “When you think about how hard they have to work mentally just to tune in to the most basic of athletic instincts, it’s so impressive.”

World Intellectual Impairment Sport also has eligibility groups for athletes that include other impairments, such as Down syndrome and autism. More information on all the groups can be found on the World Intellectual Impairment Sport eligibility and classification pages.

The International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) is confident that the 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Swimming Open Championships (Americas) in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, will set the standard for future events.

A site visit by World Intellectual Impairment Sport Swimming Committee Chairperson Dave Harman took place between 19-23 March. Harman was shown around the venue and was introduced to a variety of dignitaries from local and state government. He also met key personnel from the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and National Federation.

The media launch was also held during the four day visit.

“I have returned from Argentina with great confidence that Santiago del Estero has the potential to raise the bar for our swimming Championships, led by the Argentina Federation for Sports for People with Intellectual Impairments [FADDIM],” Harman said.

“I am very impressed with the newly built venue, Madre de Ciudades, but I was also introduced to a range of people who demonstrated a clear commitment to staging an excellent event.

“I was struck by the enthusiasm from the National Swimming Federation, from the clear interest of the State Governor, Dr. Gerardo Zamora, and the positivity of the Chief of the State Cabinet and the various ministers I met. This kind of support is unprecedented but crucial to the success and reach of the competition.

“The work that Technical Manager Patricio Ramallo, Argentinian Swimming Confederation Secretary Sergio Antonini and Aquatic Complex Director Professor Claudio Mentenego have already considered and put into place reassures me that theses Championships will be yet another milestone in the rising quality of World Intellectual Impairment Sport Swimming events.

“My thanks must also go to Professor Carlos Dapello, the State Secretary of Sport, Professor Franco Petta, the President of FADDIM, Professor Gabriela Viglino and Dr. Julian Britez for their work towards Santiago del Estero 2018. There is a great deal of experience of organising major international events within the group which I am sure will provide huge benefits.”

Harman discussed a variety of topics with the LOC and their supporters including logistics, transport, media and marketing, accommodation and broadcast. Organisers have committed to livestreaming the competition, the plans for which will be reviewed over the coming months.

About Santiago del Estero

The competition, which runs from 29 August – 2 September, is the first regional competition of its kind in any World Intellectual Impairment Sport sport in the Americas. Around 160 athletes from 10 countries are expected to compete. World Intellectual Impairment Sport has applied to World Para Swimming for sanctioning and classification.

Santiago del Estero 2018 is one of the last major events ahead of the 2019 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games in Brisbane, Australia. The Games are the world’s biggest gathering of elite athletes with intellectual impairments. They will a;so be a major step on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March, the International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) has announced the first athlete and administrator #SportChampions who will take part in its #WeAreSport project in 2018.

Through the programme, World Intellectual Impairment Sport aims to help female athletes to use social and other media to show their life as a high performance sportsperson. This will make them more visible and raise their profile so that they can become role models for the next generation.

In addition, the project will train administrators from World Intellectual Impairment Sport members in how to develop pathways to get more women and girls with intellectual impairments into sport.

So far South Korea, Argentina, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ecuador and Australia have officially signed up. The athletes nominated are some the brightest young stars from each country including Paralympians and World Intellectual Impairment Sport world champions.

Egypt, the USA, South Africa, France, Thailand, India and Sweden have also expressed an interest in taking part, and are going through the nomination process.

Applications are still open as World Intellectual Impairment Sport aims to recruit 20 athletes and the same number of administrators in total.

London 2012 Paralympic champion and Rio 2016 silver medallist Jessica-Jane Applegate will be the face of #WeAreSport.

As one of the world’s best swimmers, the 21-year-old is a great example of how female athletes can use social media to promote themselves. With nearly 50,000 followers across platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, Applegate shares updates about her training and competitions and regularly engages with her fans.

Describing some of the challenges in sport for athletes with intellectual impairments, Applegate said:

“Getting into sport is easy but staying in sport is really hard. Anyone can turn up to a session and give it a go but what I found difficult was that I looked the same as everyone else so everyone else expected so much more from me.

“I couldn’t understand lots of the instructions and couldn’t communicate back how or what I didn’t understand. It takes me a lot longer to learn new things and unless you have support from your coaches and club members it’s a huge stress and struggle.

“Many clubs and coaches are trained now to support children just like me and it’s really important that we all have that equal opportunity to join in. There are not enough learning disabled girls in sports so there’s a huge gap in the competitions.

“I would love to see more girls competing and am happy to help any of them.”

Robyn Smith, World Intellectual Impairment Sport Vice President, said: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome the first athletes and administrators who will take part in #WeAreSport. It is so important that we give both groups the tools to develop themselves and sport for women and girls in their countries.

“Jessica-Jane has perfectly described some of the issues faced by countries in developing their programmes. This includes barriers unique to areas of sport for athletes with intellectual impairments, such as a lack of understanding around their needs. We also need more role models to inspire the next generation.

“The project aims to start to address the gender imbalance that exists across the world, both at the World Intellectual Impairment Sport and Paralympic level. In turn that will increase the depth of field at competitions and make our sports more competitive all-round.

“We know that it can be a challenge for countries to find ways of including athletes with intellectual impairments and for athletes to promote themselves. But these are obstacles worth overcoming and ones that we are firmly aiming to address.”

The first activities for #WeAreSport will take place in June 2018 including a training webinar for the athletes and administrators. Each athlete will also receive a specially designed media pack containing their biography, pictures and graphics they can share on social media.

The administrators will be given materials and guidance to help them attract female athletes to try sports. As part of their commitment they will deliver at least one development workshop in their country for women and girls.

The project is mainly focused on Asia, Oceania and Africa but athletes and personnel from other regions will also be included.

Activities will climax on the 2018 International Day of Sport for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments on 20 September.

#WeAreSport is supported by a grant from the Agitos Foundation, the development arm of the International Paralympic Committee. It is co-funded by Sport Inclusion Australia.

Confirmed athlete #SportChampions