Sport classification for athletes with visual impairment and its relation with swimming performance

• Main Authors: Elaine Cappellazzo Souto (Author), Leonardo dos Santos Oliveira (Author), Claudemir da Silva Santos (Author), Márcia Greguol (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1415-8426; 1980-0037; 10.5007/1980-0037.2017v19n2p196
• Keywords: baixa visão; cegueira; desempenho atlético; esportes para pessoas com deficiência; Sports; GV557-1198.995; Medicine (General); R5-920
• Source: Revista Brasileira de Cineantropometria e Desempenho Humano, Vol 19, Iss 2, Pp 196-203 (2017)

The medical classification (MC) adopted for swimmers with vision visual impairment (VI) does not clearly elucidate the influence of vision loss on performance. In a documentary research, the final time in the 50-, 100- and 400-m freestyle events and MC (S11, S12 and S13) of national (n = 40) and international (n = 72) elite swimmers was analyzed. The analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman's correlation with 95% confidence (P < 0.05) and Cohen's d was calculated. There was a large effect of MC on the final time in the 50-m (P = 0.034, d = 1.55) for national athletes and in the 50-m (P = 0.001, d = 2.64), 100-m (P = 0.001, d = 3.01) and 400-m (P = 0.001, d = 2.88) for international athletes. S12 and S13 classes were faster compared to S11 class for all international events, but only in the 50-m for the national event (P < 0.05). It was found a strong negative relationship between the final time and MC for international athletes (Spearman's Rho ≥ 0.78). There was a significant influence of MC on the performance of swimmers in freestyle races, especially in international swimmers. Thus, having a visual residue seems to be sufficient for S12 and S13 swimmers to achieve similar performance.