Wheelchair rugby at the 1996 Summer Paralympics

Wheelchair rugby
at the X Paralympic Games
Paralympic Wheelchair rugby
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) United States  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Canada  Canada
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) New Zealand  New Zealand
2000โ†’

Wheelchair rugby at the 1996 Summer Paralympics consisted of a mixed team event. Wheelchair rugby was being contested as a demonstration sport, and not an official part of the Paralympic program, but medals were awarded and stayed on medal table. Six teams took part in the sport; Sweden and Australia were eliminated after the preliminary round.

Medal summary

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Mixed wheelchair rugby  United States (USA)

William Renje
Clifton Chunn
Bradley Updegrove
David Ceruti
Joseph Soares
David Gould
Charles Crouch

 Canada (CAN)

Kirby Kranabetter
Raymond Lizotte
Daryl Stubel
David Tweed
Brian McPhate
Dany Belanger
Allan Semeniuk
Garett Hickling

 New Zealand (NZL)

Paul Leefe
Stephen Guthrie
Geremy Tinker
Robert Dickie
Sholto Taylor
Gary McMurray
Curtis Palmer
Grant Sharman

Classification

Wheelchair rugby players were given a classification based on their upper body function. A committee gave each athlete a 7-level score ranging from 0.5 to 3.5, with lower scores corresponding to more severe disability. During the game, the total score of all players on the court for a team cannot exceed 8 points. However, for each female player on court, their team gets an extra 0.5 points over the 8 point limit.

Teams

Six teams took part in this sport. Each team could have up to 12 athletes, but no more than 11 of the team members could be male. Listed below are the six teams qualified for the Atlanta Paralympics.

Qualified teams
 United States (USA)
 New Zealand (NZL)
 Canada (CAN)
 Great Britain (GBR)
 Sweden (SWE)
 Australia (AUS)

Tournament

Competition format

The six teams participated in a single round robin tournament. The top four teams went on to compete for 1st through 4th place, while the last two teams are eliminated.

Preliminary round

Round robin
Rank Team Pld W L PF:PA Pts   USA NZL CAN GBR SWE AUS
1  United States (USA) 5 5 0 213:120 10 x 48:34 47:26 50:26 37:16 31:18
2  New Zealand (NZL) 5 4 1 205:185 9 34:48 x 45:42 42:30 45:42 39:23
3  Canada (CAN) 5 3 2 171:167 8 26:47 42:45 x 34:29 30:22 39:24
4  Great Britain (GBR) 5 2 3 160:199 7 26:50 30:42 29:34 x 41:40 34:33
5  Sweden (SWE) 5 1 4 149:178 6 16:37 42:45 22:30 40:41 x 29:25
6  Australia (AUS) 5 0 5 123:172 5 18:31 23:39 24:39 33:34 25:29 x
  Qualified for quarterfinals
  Eliminated

Source: Paralympic.org [1]

Medal round

 
SemifinalsGold-medal match
 
      
 
 
 
 
 United States 38
 
 
 
 Great Britain 25
 
 United States 37
 
 
 
 Canada 30
 
 New Zealand 38
 
 
 Canada 39
 
Bronze-medal match
 
 
 
 
 
 Great Britain 34
 
 
 New Zealand 46

Source: Paralympic.org [1]

Ranking

Place Team
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Canada
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  New Zealand
4.  Great Britain
5.  Sweden
 Australia

References

  1. ^ a b "Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Game, Wheelchair rugby". Official Website of the Paralympic Movement. 1996. Retrieved October 28, 2012.