How can Engineering help team GB at the Paralympics?

The Paralympics
The Paralympic Games are a major international sports competition for athletes with disabilities, and are split
into Winter Games and Summer Games, alternating every two years in the same city where the respective
Olympics were held [ CITATION The17 \l 2057 ]. Even before the Paralympic games, disabled
athletes from Great Britain and all over the world would compete in the Olympics with disabilities such as
missing limbs and deafness. In 1944, Dr. Ludwig Guttman opened a spinal injuries centre at the Stoke
Mandeville Hospital to help war veterans and citizens from World War II especially in Great Britain as a
rehabilitation centre which then evolved into the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948. This was the first
competition for wheelchair athletes which consisted of 16 injured servicemen and women who took part in
archery [ CITATION Int18 \l 2057 ].
The engineering involved in this first event would have been in the design and making of the wheelchairs,
bows and arrows that the athletes used. In 1948, in both Olympics and Paralympics, engineering and
technology barely interacted with the sports and the athletes. This has changed dramatically in the 21 st century
where technology from prostheses to biomechanics are used to improve and ameliorate the abilities of
competing athletes in Great Britain[ CITATION Chr12 \l 2057 ].

Prostheses
Blade-style prostheses are used by GB amputee runners, and thanks to its crescent-like shape and carbon fibre
build, it’s able to have the lightness, springiness and strength needed for athletes to run at high speeds than
would have been available with normal prostheses [ CITATION Int181 \l 2057 ]. The same prostheses
for runners can’t be used for cyclists with lower-limb amputations as they require their prostheses to be more
aerodynamic. Obviously, the legs of non-disabled people aren’t and cannot be designed to accommodate the
aerodynamics needed to reduce drag, however a cycling prosthesis can be designed in such a way using
engineering. Making the blade thin with the edge facing forwards, allows it to easily cut through the air which
differs to prostheses used for running as they have the flat side facing forwards [ CITATION Sop21 \l
2057 ]. This gives GB cyclists the extra help with constant changes being made by engineers such as material
and aeronautical engineers to ensure they are able to compete at the highest level.

Wheelchairs
Just like with many engineering equipment that help team GB at the Paralympics, wheelchairs are also made
from high-tech materials such as carbon fibre to ensure that they are light but also strong and durable
[ CITATION Sop21 \l 2057 ]. Other materials and development methods have been used in the past
by team GB such as the first ever bespoke 3D printed seats for wheelchair basketball in 2012. These seats were
individually moulded for each player to provide a unique shape that would provide that player with support to
help with improve their performance in the game in departments such as speed, acceleration and
manoeuvrability. Since these seats are uniquely designed for each player – by going through 3D scans to
capture their biomechanical movements – additional support can be added for athletes with spinal cord
injuries. Thanks to funding and institutes such as Loughborough University’s Sports Technology Institute, seats
such as these were able to be designed and engineered to help team GB [ CITATION Dan12 \l 2057 ].

Other Technologies
Advancements in prosthetics and wheelchairs help amputees to compete to a high standard at the Paralympics
for Great Britain. However, there are other disabilities that require engineering to help accommodate and
improve our athletes’ capabilities. Swimmers with vision impairment used to have assistants called ‘tappers’
who used a tapping device to let the swimmer know when they are about to reach a wall. These are generally
homemade, however Samsung have engineered an electronic swimming cap that makes use of vibrations and
Bluetooth instead, to let the swimmer know when they’re reaching a wall. This advanced and new technology
could be used by GB Paralympic swimmers in the next Paralympics or perhaps an even easier system and
design could be created that will allow GB swimmers to outperform swimmers from other
countries[ CITATION Jam21 \l 2057 ].

Summary
Since the Paralympics were first created in 1948, to the 2020 Paralympics, it is clear that engineering has
played a vital role in helping team GB. Engineers struggle and work endlessly to invent and modify and improve
designs to help their country, while also doing their best to keep a step ahead of their other competitors from
other countries. Thanks to large amounts of funding invested in helping our athletes, can their hard work,
coupled with the hard work by leading engineers, be able to truly reap rewards and win Great Britain medals
at the Paralympics. Whether it’s chemical, materials, aeronautical or design engineering, incorporating several
engineering disciplines to work as a strong team is what gives birth to incredible and innovative designs that
build the foundation and give the support needed for a strong team GB to be able to participate at the
Paralympics.

References
Bushwick, S., 2021. How Paralympic Wheelchairs and Prostheses Are Optimized for Speed and Performance.
[Online]
Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-paralympic-wheelchairs-and-prostheses-are-
optimized-for-speed-and-performance/
[Accessed 2021].

Committee, I. P., 2018. Running Blades and their evolution. [Online]

Available at: https://www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/running-blades-and-their-evolution
[Accessed 2021].

Howarth, D., 2012. Paralympic design: 3D-printed seats for wheelchair basketball. [Online]
Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2012/09/05/paralympic-design-3d-printed-seats-for-wheelchair-
basketball/
[Accessed 2021].

International Paralympic Committee, 2018. PARALYMPICS HISTORY. [Online]

Available at: https://www.paralympic.org/ipc/history
[Accessed 2021].

Kenealey, J., 2021. The technology empowering the athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. [Online]
Available at: https://www.morson.com/blog/2021/09/technology-2020-paralympics
[Accessed 2021].

Marker, C., 2012. Science Engineering and Technology and the Olympics. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theiet.org/publishing/inspec/researching-hot-topics/science-engineering-and-
technology-and-the-olympics/
[Accessed 2021].

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2017. Paralympic Games. [Online]

Available at: https://www.britannica.com/sports/Paralympic-Games
[Accessed 2021].