What you see is not what you get: The impact of vision impairment on judo performance

Paralympic sports provide opportunities for athletes with impairment to participate and excel in sport competitions. To compete in Paralympic sports, all athletes must undergo classification to determine whether they are eligible to compete and to allocate eligible athletes to different sport classes. Classification criteria need to be based on scientific evidence showing the relationship between impairment and performance. Judo is a Paralympic sport for athletes with vision impairment (VI), which does not yet have an evidence-based classification system in place. The aim of this thesis was therefore to examine the impact of vision impairment on performance in judo. The results of this thesis suggested that vision impairment impacts performance in judo, both when starting without and with a grip in place. On the basis of the results of this thesis, new classification criteria for VI judo are currently proposed and being discussed by the International Blind Sports Federation in consultation with the wider VI judo community. The proposed changes include new minimum impairment criteria as well as split of VI judo competition into separate sport classes for partially sighted and functionally blind judokas. Besides providing practical recommendations for the organisation of judo for individuals with vision impairment, the current thesis exemplifies the remarkable capabilities of skilled performers to functionally adapt under suboptimal visual conditions.