8 Things to Know About Paralympic Guides, Pilots, and Tappers

They keep the athletes safe and set them up for success—all while training their own bodies for high-level competition too.

By Cindy Kuzma

August 28, 2024

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

No athlete makes it to the top of their sport without a support team. For Paralympians, that crew often includes a guide, pilot, or assistant—someone there with them during the competition, sometimes step for step or stroke for stroke.

This year, Team USA is sending five guides—three men and two women—to support its 220 athletes. Their exact roles depend on the sport, the athlete’s classification (a designation for the type and degree of their impairment), and athlete preferences, but here are some basics to know about members of this important support staff.

1. Visually impaired runners are literally tied to their guides.

Whether it’s a sprinter in the T11 class dashing down the track or a marathoner pushing to the finish at the end of a 26.2-mile road road race, guides keep visually impaired runners moving safely in the right direction.

Guides are secured to their runners with a tether, a band that might be made of cotton or nylon and has loops at either end to attach to each athlete’s hands. It can vary in length based on the athlete’s needs. During a race, guides can’t push or pull the athletes, but they can use their words to tell them where other runners are located, warn them of obstacles ahead, or verbally encourage them.

Sprinter’s guides can also help them set up in the blocks, the angled steel or aluminum supports they push off from at the start of a race to give them maximum acceleration. The pairs go pretty much everywhere together during a competition. In fact, as guide Jerome Avery told World Para Athletics, if his runner breaks a world record, he also has to be drug-tested.

Because they must be at least as fast as, if not faster, than the athlete they’re guiding, these runners are also talented and highly trained. For example, Avery began guiding after narrowly missing the US Olympic team. And they must train with the para-athlete, learning to match their stride and developing trust along the way.

“The partnership goes on all the time, all of the time. We’ve been building our relationship for 11 years,” Brazilian sprinter Thalita Vitoria Simplicio Da Silva told the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) regarding her guide, Felipe Veloso. Veloso agrees: “What makes us strong is knowing that we can count on each other in any situation.”

2. And long jumpers rely on them for audio cues.

Speaking of trust, visually impaired long jumpers place a ton of it in their guides. First, guides position them at the beginning of the runway. Then, as the athlete takes off at a sprint, the guides shout, clap, or count to let them know how far to run—and when to take off into the sand pit, as World Para Athletics reports.

Jumpers and their guides spend hours together in training, developing bonds that eventually transcend the sport. “In the beginning stages, as an athlete who is blind, you have your guide and they’re there to guide you; they’re there to help you be successful on the track,” Lex Gillette, a five-time Paralympic silver medalist and four-time world champion in long jump, told USA Today. “And then you quickly realize that it’s much more than just what you do on the track. So I think that the beauty in our relationship has been that it’s evolved.”

3. Visually impaired swimmers wait for a tap.

Para-swimmers with impaired vision go full speed down their lane, and the last thing they want is to slam into the wall head-first. Enter tappers, or assistants outside of the water who tap them once or twice when they’re getting close to the end of the pool.

The devices they use, also called tappers, are typically homemade; there’s no standard kind. American Anastasia Pagonis, for example, cuts up a pool noodle, covers it with tape, and attaches it to the end of a pole, as she demonstrates in her Instagram reel. Others have used fishing poles or a cane with a tennis ball at the end.

The exact timing and style of the tap—for example, head or back, once or twice, right before the turn or with a few strokes to go—is up to the athlete and their tapper. Each pair must work closely together in training on consistency and coordination, because the tapper can’t speak to the swimmer during the competition.

4. In cycling and triathlon, pilots steer tandem bikes at high speeds.

Visually impaired cyclists, meanwhile, ride on tandem bikes behind a sighted cyclist. The rider up front is called the pilot, and works the gears as well as navigating the road or track. Meanwhile, the para-athlete behind them is the stoker—they generate the power. (The name came from the term for a person who tosses more wood or coal into a fire, stoking the flames, according to the IPC.)

The pair discusses their strategy beforehand. During the race, they might communicate through words or signals. A stoker does more than just pedal—some memorize the course so they’re aware of the twists and turns that are coming up, and they might remind the pilot to stay hydrated.

“You have to have a chemistry, be on the same page, and you have to be consistent (in training),” Mark-Anthony Sanchez, a pilot who has worked with many top para-cyclists, told USParaCycling.org.

5. Para-triathlete guides have a bunch of roles.

Visually impaired triathletes must have one same-gender guide from the same country, Triathlete reports. The sighted person swims with a tether no more than a half-meter ahead of the para-athlete, pilots the tandem bike, and guides with a tether during the running portion.

Meanwhile, para-triathletes with visual and some types of physical impairments can get assistance to move from one event to the next. Handlers or guides can help them get in and out of the water, change out of their wetsuits, get into—or dock—their racing bikes or chairs, or otherwise handle their gear and equipment, according to the IPC.

6. Blind football players listen out for sighted goalies and sideline guides.

Blind football—or blind soccer, as we call it in the US—is a five-on-five game for visually impaired athletes. The ball has a bell inside so players can hear it; they also communicate by shouting “voy” when they’re going for it. The crowd, meanwhile, stays silent unless a goal is scored so the athletes can hear what’s happening.

Goalies can have partial or full vision and can give direction to the players when they’re on the defensive end of the field. Each team also has two other sighted guides—the coach in the midfield, and another guide at the other end of the field. From there, they can give team members in that one third of the field information about the position of the ball or other players, or tell them which direction to run.

7. And boccia assistants can do everything from wipe sweat to position the ball.

Boccia is one of two Paralympic sports with no equivalent in the Olympics (the other is goalball). Individuals, pairs, or teams of three start with six red balls or six blue balls. To win, the athlete or team gets the most balls closest to a white ball, or jack.

All the athletes compete in wheelchairs. While those in the BC2 or BC4 classifications throw on their own, those in BC1 or BC3 can have assistants. For BC1 athletes, assistants might stabilize or adjust the wheelchair or give the ball to the player, who then throws with their hand or foot. They can also do things like wipe sweat off the athlete’s hands or chat with them between ends, or rounds of play, as The Independent reports, though they must stay out of the playing box when the game is on.

Meanwhile, BC3 athletes have severe impairments in both arms and both legs, and assistants are crucial to their competition. The athletes often use assistive devices such as ramps and pointers attached to their head or hand to get the ball onto the court. Their assistants keep their backs to the court—so they can’t see what’s happening—and follow instructions from the athlete about where to place the ball and ramp.

“We have a limited time during the game, and we must have the best communication possible,” Tokyo silver medalist in the BC3 category Grigoris Polychronidis told the podcast A Winning Mindset. “For example, I can say a word to my sport assistant and the sport assistant must understand 10 actions, because I have to have my mind inside the game and I cannot lose time explaining.”

What’s helpful for Polychronidis is how well his assistants already know him. For years he played with his father, Daniel, who also made his ramps and other equipment, per the IPC. Now he plays with his wife, Katerina, a former tennis player and gymnast.

“She is a sports person…she loved it from the first game,” he said on the podcast. “We managed to make our game even faster and save more time. It’s something special; it’s something magnificent.”

8. And lots of them will walk away with some hardware too.

And yes, guides, pilots, and BC3 boccia assistants also receive medals and stand on the podium when the para-athlete earns bronze, silver, or gold. It’s like the best possible outcome for a group project: One where each person has a clear role, works toward a common goal (in this case, being the best in the world), and gets honored for it.

SELF is your go-to source for all things Paralympics. Follow our coverage of the Paris Games here.