Gabon at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

Gabon sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7–18 September 2016. This was the nation's third appearance at a Summer Paralympic Games, following their two previous participations at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Gabon sent a sole athlete to represent them at Rio de Janeiro, wheelchair racer Edmond Ngombi. He did not advance from his heat in the men's 100 metres T54 event as he came sixth out of seven competitors and attributed the result to a handlebar problem.

Gabon at the
2016 Summer Paralympics
IPC codeGAB
NPCFederation Gabonaise Omnisports pour Paralympique pour Handicapées
in Rio de Janeiro
Competitors1 in 1 sport
Flag bearer Edmond Ngombi
Medals
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
0
Total
0
Summer Paralympics appearances

Background

Gabon first entered Paralympic competition at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and have appeared in every Summer Paralympic Games since.[1] Thus, Rio de Janeiro was the country's third time competing at a Summer Paralympiad.[1] The nation has never won a medal at the Paralympic Games.[1] The 2016 Summer Paralympics were held from 7–18 September 2016 with a total of 4,328 athletes representing 159 National Paralympic Committees taking part.[2] Gabon was represented by a sole athlete, Edmond Ngombi, a short-distance wheelchair racer.[3] He was accompanied by his coach Guy Gaétan Ntoutoume Endenda and international classifier Astride Koumba.[4] Ngombi was selected to be the flag bearer for the parade of nations during the opening ceremony.[5]

Disability classifications
Main article: Disability sport classification

Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[6][7] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.[8]

Athletics
Main article: Athletics at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

Edmond Ngombi contracted polio at an early age, and lost the use of both his legs, resulting in him using a wheelchair in competition.[9] He is classified T54 by the International Paralympic Committee.[9] The Rio Summer Paralympics were his second significant international competition, after the 2015 African Games,[9] and he was 39 years old at the time of the Games.[10] To compete at the Games, he received an invitation from the Bipartite Commission because his fastest time of 18.34 at the 2015 African Games was 3.19 seconds slower than the "B" qualifying standard for his event, the men's 100 metres T54.[4][11][12] On 16 September, Ngombi competed in the heats of the men's 100 meters T54. Assigned to compete against seven other athletes in heat one, he completed the race in 18.79 seconds, which put him sixth.[13] Nogmbi failed to qualify for the final since he was 19th overall and only the top eight advanced to that stage of the competition.[14] After the Paralympics, he said his performance was hindered by a handlebar problem on his wheelchair and revealed that he exceeded his expectations.[15]

Men's Track
Athlete Events Heat Final
Time Rank Time Rank
Edmond Ngombi 100 m T54 18.79 6 Did not advance[13][14]
gollark: Inevitably.
gollark: What if you derive bad conclusions from that experiences, or your experiences are bad somehow?
gollark: If the existing religions hadn't been marketed (for some somewhat broad definition of marketing) they wouldn't have spread and we wouldn't know about them.
gollark: The obvious solution is to design better religions and market them better.
gollark: You can just make signs.

See also

References
    1. "Gabon at the Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    2. "Rio 2016". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
    3. "Handisport/"Rio – 2016" : Edmond Ngombi qualifié pour les demi-finales". L'Union (in French). 14 September 2016. Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    4. Elang-Mane (13 September 2016). "Handisport: Edmond Ngombi absent aux JO para olympiques de Rio 2016". Echos du Nord (in French). Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    5. Smith, Alan (8 September 2016). "Start of the 2016 Paralympics: opening ceremony in Rio – as it happened!". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    6. McGarry, Andrew (3 September 2008). "Paralympics categories explained". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
    7. "Making sense of the categories". BBC Sport. 6 October 2000. Archived from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
    8. "A-Z of Paralympic classification". BBC Sport. 28 August 2008. Archived from the original on 24 July 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
    9. "Edmond Ngombi – Athlete Bio". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    10. "Ngombi Edmong – Athlete Profile". Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    11. "Rio 2016 Paralympic Games – Qualification Guide" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. May 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
    12. "XIèmes Jeux olympiques africains: Results – 100 m – T11 Men – First Round" (PDF). Microplus Events. 14 September 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    13. "Leichtathletik, 100 m, T54 – sitzend, Männer" (in German). Sportschau. 18 September 2016. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    14. "Athletics – Men's 100 – T54 – Round 1 – Results Summary" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 16 September 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    15. "XVE Jeux Paralympiques Rio-2016: Entertainen avec Edmond Ngombi". L'Union (in French). 29 September 2016. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
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