Held soon after the Olympics, the Paralympics are an international sporting event where athletes with a physical disability compete. Damon Rose, Emma Tracey and Lucy Townsend collected 10 things you might not know about them:

• Instead of the Olympic Rings, the Paralympics have their own logo (pictured above.) The logo called “Agitos” represents spirit in motion.
• Interesting things about blind football include:
  • The ball is filled with ball bearings, making it audible
  • The field is smaller and is lined with boards, preventing the ball from going out.
  • Even those classified as blind may have limited vision. They must wear eye covers to ensure fairness.
  • The goal keepers are generally fully sighted, but can’t leave their area.
  • Another sighted player called a “guide” directs players from behind the goal.
  • Spectators must stay silent.
• In the running events blind athletes can choose to have a guide who has their own lane and who runs with them to warn them of bends and obstacles. The runner is disqualified if the guide crosses the finishing line before them.
• Blind swimmers generally have a tapper who taps them on the head when they’re close to the end of the pool. This lets the swimmer fearlessly go at full speed in the beginning, since they’ll know exactly when to slow down.

The full list has many more interesting things as well as pictures of some of the things described above.

Source: BBC