Raza point score system

The Raza point score system is a method in Paralympic athletics field competitions for comparing throws or jumps by athletes of differing levels of disability. In events where athletes of multiple different classifications compete, performances are converted to point scores by a formula which accounts for the athletes' classifications.^[1] This means that a more disabled athlete may beat a less disabled competitor with a slightly shorter throw or jump.

Formula

The formula is a Gompertz function:

${\text{points}}=q=ae^{-e^{b-cp}}$

Where $p$ is the performance in metres, and $a$ , $b$ , and $c$ are constants. Presently, $a$ (the maximum possible score) is 1200 points in all cases, $b$ varies between events (with men's and women's events of the same discipline having different values), whilst differing values of $c$ distinguish the different classifications for each event. These constants are reviewed by the International Paralympic Committee annually.^[1]^[2]^[3] The constants are set such that the world's best athletes will achieve scores of around 1000 points.^[1]

The Raza Points System is designed to be reversible,^[2] such that an athlete can know the performance ( $p$ ) they require for a particular point score ( $q$ ). The reversed form of the formula is:^[1]

${\text{performance}}=p={\frac {b-\ln {\left(\ln {\left({\frac {a}{q}}\right)}\right)}}{c}}$

Example

For the F35/36 woman's discus throw at the 2012 Paralympics the coefficients were as follows:^[4]

Class	a	b	c
F35	1181.867462	2.482113	0.148
F36	1181.867462	2.482113	0.160

The gold and silver medallists were Wu Qing and Mariia Pomazan respectively. Wu's classification was F36, meaning that her best throw of 28.01 m scored 1032 points. Pomazan's F35 classification meant that her longer throw of 30.12 m scored 1028 points, placing her behind Wu in the final standings.

History

The Raza point score system replaced a system used prior to 2010 which based its calculation on the current World Record and top performances at the most recent Paralympic Games, and World Championships.^[1] This system had the disadvantage of discouraging top athletes from setting world records, as this would effectively disadvantage them in future events.^[5]

The system was developed by, and is named after, Masoom Raza, a Performance Technology Analyst for UK Athletics.^[2]

The system was used at the 2012 Paralympics. The use of outdated coefficients for the F35/36 Women's discus resulted in medals being initially incorrectly awarded.^[5] This case, with the correct coefficients, is used as the example above.

For the 2016 Paralympic Games the IPC did not choose any combined classification events that required the Raza system.^[6]

References

1 2 3 4 5 "Explanatory Report" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
1 2 3 "Raza system". British Athletics. 15 April 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
↑ "IPC Athletics Raza Point Scores 2016" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
↑ 2012 Raza coefficients
1 2 Bialik, Carl (4 September 2012). "The Toughest Scoring Job in Sports". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
↑ "IPC Athletics announces final medal events programme for Rio 2016". British Paralympic Association. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2016.

Paralympic Athletics Classification

	Track and jump events	T11 T12 T13 T20 T32 T33 T34 T35 T36 T37 T38 T40 T41 T42 T43 T44 T45 T46 T47 T51 T52 T53 T54

	Throwing events	F11 F12 F13 F20 F31 F32 F33 F34 F35 F36 F37 F38 F40 F41 F42 F43 F44 F45 F46 F51 F52 F53 F54 F55 F56 F57

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