How many disciplines are covered in para-swimming?

Swimming comprises men’s and women’s medal events in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, medley and relay across distances that range from 50m to 400m. 17 Oct 2014

Races take place in a FINA standard eight-lane 50m pool with swimmers starting in a variety of different ways: from a standing start, using a dive start, sitting on the starting platform, and in the water. The start used is most usually dependent on the degree of functionality the athlete has.

Swimmers at the Paralympic Games are classified into 14 different classes. It is important to note that an athlete’s classification may change for different swimming strokes, because the nature of their impairment may affect their ability to perform a particular stroke.

Swimming was one of the sports to be contested at the first Paralympic Games in Rome, Italy, in 1960. It has become one of the biggest and most popular sports on the programme.