Shooting

Shooting’s Paralympic experience started in 1976 in Toronto. However, at that edition of the Games, the sport included men only events. In Arnhem 1980, ladies were allowed to join the fight for medals.

In 1984, the mixed shooting categories were removed from the programme. Eight years later, a new change. In Barcelona 1992, the mixed events were brought back, this time replacing the women only events. It was not until the Atlanta Games in 1996, that shooting had men, women and mixed events again, format kept til today.

Brazil’s Paralympic shooting history is even more recent. The sport took its first steps in the country in 1997 at the Military Police Rehabilitation Centre in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil made its Paralympic debut at the 2008 Beijing Games, with athlete Carlos Garletti.

Classification

Shooting uses a functional classification system that allows athletes with different types of disabilities to compete together in individual, as well as team events. Shooting is classified in three main classes:

SH1
Pistol and rifle shooters that do not require support for the weapon.

SH2
Rifle shooters that are not able to hold the weight of the weapon with their arms and need to use a support for the gun.

SH3
Visually impaired rifle shooters

Curiosities

Male supremacy

There were six mixed shooting events at the Paralympics in London 2012. In the mixed events, male and female athletes go head to head and the men finished with a clear advantage. From the 18 medals that were up for grabs, 17 of them were scooped by men. The only woman to have managed to finish on the podium at the London Games was Cuiping Zhang from China.

See also

Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB)
www.cpb.org.br

International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
www.paralympic.org