First Entry Information

Professor Jennifer Mactavish is to receive the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) 2015 Paralympic Scientific Award in recognition of the role she played in the re-inclusion of athletes with an intellectual impairment into the Paralympic programme.

The Canadian who is the Dean of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies at Ryerson University, Canada, will receive her honour at the VISTA 2015 Conference in Girona, Spain, which runs from 7-10 October.

The award is given biennially to an academic researcher for his or her contributions to research in the field of sports for persons with an impairment, and it serves to promote and encourage further study in this area.

Amaury Russo, President of World Intellectual Impairment Sport congratulated Professor Mactavish on her achievement “This announcement is the latest in a series of  awards given to the joint World Intellectual Impairment Sport-IPC working group and its members, in recognition of their work to re-include athletes with an intellectual impairment in Paralympic competition. It reinforces once again the importance of the collaboration, and recognises the personal contribution made by Jennifer and her colleagues in pursuit of fairness”.

“I am delighted and humbled to be the recipient of the 2015 Paralympic Scientific award,” said Professor Mactavish. “This tribute rightfully belongs to a dedicated community of academics, graduate students, coaches and sport federations from around the world, who have worked together over the years to address a complex question that unanswered would continue to exclude athletes with intellectual impairment from showcasing their talents at the highest level of sport.

“I am very proud of what we have accomplished, and particularly so for the athletes who can again dream of representing their countries as Paralympians!”

For the last 20 years, Professor Mactavish has been an expert in the field of persons and athletes with an intellectual impairment and spent 15 years spearheading the research to get athletes with an intellectual impairment re-introduced to the Paralympic programme.

Sir Philip Craven, IPC President, said: “I would like to congratulate Professor Mactavish who has spent her entire life in the pursuit of equal opportunities for all on winning this award. The reintroduction of intellectually impaired athletes back into the Paralympic Games was the outcome of a unique and excellent collaboration between sports governance and the scientific community.

“Professor Mactavish played a significant role in that reintroduction and every single athlete with an intellectual impairment who competed at London 2012 and who will line-up at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games should be thankful for her tremendous contribution.

“She is a worthy winner and I look forward to presenting her with the award at October’s VISTA 2015 conference in Girona.”

The 2015 World Intellectual Impairment Sport World Alpine and Nordic Skiing Championships  – an event for athletes with an intellectual disability – begin today in Lovsjo, Sweden, with 10 nations competing over 5 days of competition.

After an opening ceremony, the event begins with the Men’s and Women’s Race Slalom for the Alpine skiers, whilst Nordic skiers will face the grueling 5km (women)/10km (men’s) cross country event.

Races will be streamed live over the internet and results can be found on the World Intellectual Impairment Sport website at the event website (link below).

Nordic Skiing has been identified by the International Paralympic Committee as the first winter sport to be offered to athletes with an intellectual disability within the Winter Paralympic Games programme and World Intellectual Impairment Sport is working with the IPC to achieve this at the earliest opportunity.

World Intellectual Impairment Sport today confirmed that former President’s Bernard Atha CBE (Great Britain), Jos Mulder (The Netherlands) and Dr Bob Price OBE (Great Britain) will this weekend attend the 1^st World Intellectual Impairment Sport Awards taking place in Sheffield, Great Britain.

All have played an influential role in the organization over its 29 year history – guiding its development and growth into an International Federation, managing the organization in the years following the exclusion of athletes with an intellectual disability from Paralympic sport, and overseeing their successful re-inclusion in the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

They will join delegates from the World Intellectual Impairment Sport membership together with local guests from the Sheffield areas to celebrate sport for athletes with an intellectual disability.

Amaury Russo (Brazil), World Intellectual Impairment Sport President explained “This is a wonderful opportunity to not only recognize outstanding athletic achievement, but also the people who often work behind the scenes to make it possible. To do this in the presence of our former Presidents – all of whom played such an important role in making the Federation what it is today – makes this evening particularly special for everybody attending”.

World Intellectual Impairment Sport also today announced the event sponsors including Hilton Hotels who will sponsor the Hall of Fame Award recognizing a lifetime achievement in sport for athletes with an intellectual disability, Irwin Mitchell LLP who will sponsor the Best Female Athlete Award, WGT Sport Ltd who sponsor the Unsung Hero Award, and finally Morrison Insurance Solutions who sponsor the Best Male Athlete Award and are Overall Event sponsors.

The Ivor Burge Basketball Championships are the National Open-Age Championships for athletes with an intellectual disability in Australia.

The men’s division will also feature a guest team from Japan, who will face the Australian Boomerangs at the completion of the Championships. The clash marks the next step of preparation for the teams in their path to the 2015 Inas Global Games. The Boomerangs finished fourth and Japan sixth at the 2011 Global Games and Australia most recently placed third at the 2013 World Championships in Turkey.

The Ivor Burge Championships takes place in Melbourne 22-28 February and sees 8 men’s teams and 5 women’s scheduled to compete in a fierce field of competition. The Boomerangs’ match against Japan is scheduled to take place on Sunday 1st March, 1PM on the show court of the Dandenong Basketball Stadium.