Paralympic sport has been a long-time passion for UQ’s Sean Tweedy, who will attend his third Games in Beijing in September.
Dr Tweedy, the MAIC Research Fellow in Physical Activity and Disability based at the School of Human Movement Studies, has been selected to classify at the Beijing Paralympic Games by the International Paralympic Committee.
Dr Tweedy has been classifying internationally since 1993.
“Classification is a special feature of Paralympic sport. Although classification is also used in Olympic sport, the challenges associated with classifying athletes according to sex or body mass are relatively minor,” he said.
“Classification in Paralympic sport is more challenging because athletes must be classified according to how much their disability impacts on their sports performance, and the range of disabilities varies enormously, including spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, limb deficiency, brain injury and vision impairment.”
The challenge of classification in Paralympic sport is a major research interest for Dr Tweedy who is chief investigator on the ARC-funded International Paralympic Classification Project.
The aim of the project is to develop an evidence-based method for assessing impairments and assigning sporting classes.
This will be an improvement on current methods, which rely principally on expert opinion.
The three-year research project involves contributions from research centres in Belgium, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil and the United States.
Dr Tweedy said the new research would help provide an objective means of ensuring that the athletes who succeed in Paralympic sport would not be those who were less disabled than others but would be those who had the best physiological and psychological attributes and had enhanced them to best effect.
“One of the great things about the Paralympic movement and its system of classification is that it provides an avenue for people with disabilities to pursue sporting excellence, regardless of the extent of that disability,” he said.
Although Dr Tweedy is a keen follower of the Olympic Games, his real passion is for the Paralympic competition.
“The Paralympic Games are just a tremendous sporting event – excellent competition and truly inspiring performances,” he said.
“For me, the Olympics are a great test event – a sort of pre-Paralympic Games if you like."
The 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing run from September 6-17.
This will also be the third Paralympic Games for UQ Associate Lecturer Rowena Toppenberg who has been appointed head physiotherapist for the athletics team as part of the overall Paralympic Medical Team.
UQ graduates Sian Pugh and Emma Whiteside also join the Beijing Paralympic team as physiotherapists.
Note: If any UQ students, graduates or staff have been excluded from the list please contact UQ Communications on the number below.
Media: Sean Tweedy on (3365 6638, seant@hms.uq.edu.au) or Eliza Plant at UQ Communications on (3365 2619)
