The Paralympic Games have been under way for almost a week in Tokyo and will continue until the closing ceremony on Sept. 5.
Here are some photos from the first week of competition.
There are 22 sports in the Paralympics. Some carry the same name as in the Olympics, such as swimming track and field, archery, badminton, rowing, track cycling, road cycling, and so forth.
But there are sports that are unique to the Paralympics: sitting volleyball, boccia, goalball, and 5-a-side-football. In addition, there are four sports that are contested by athletes in wheelchairs, but the sports will sound familiar: wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, and wheelchair tennis.
There are officially 4,403 athletes competing in Tokyo, a record number for any Paralympics They represent 162 nations and territories, which includes a refugee team. Each athlete has unique differences that have to be classified according to individual impairments. The many classification categories make some sports difficult to understand, but the photos clearly show the high level of competition and training.
___
Follow AP visual journalism:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews
AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images
AP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.com
