Athletics is considered by many to be the blue-riband event of the Paralympic Games, with South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, America's Jerome Singleton (pictured, above) and Ireland's Jason Smyth three of the most recognisable athletes in disability sport.

The online learning programme, run by IPC Athletics and its education partner, the IPC Academy, takes between 15 and 24 hours to complete and ensures that those who do complete it have a greater knowledge of what is expected from a technical official, in terms of skills and competence.

"We have been working on structuring this pathway for some time now in order to ensure we get it right," said IPC chief executive Xavier Gonzalez.

"Like athletes, technical officials only get one chance to get things right. However, the impact of their decisions and projects can be long-lasting.

"This pathway will be seen in future years as one of the beacons of success throughout the Paralympic movement because it will improve technical officials at all levels."

The course has an easy-to-follow format and includes the most up-to-date description of the rules.

It uses footage from recent Paralympic Games to demonstrate and highlight learning outcomes, and also has interactive quizzes and animations.

In addition, the IPC Academy is developing a series of competency assessed initiatives, which will be delivered by experienced and certified educators.

"It is a very important area for sport performance and development to ensure athletes are provided the best competition opportunities," said the director of the IPC Academy, Chris Solly.

"To do this, we have established a holistic training pathway for technical officials, which ensures they are empowered to make correct decisions at events and able to effectively communicate these decisions to athletes, coaches and the many other people involved in the sport."

To access the programme click here. 

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