All products featured on Self are independently selected by our editors.
However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
No athlete makes it to the top of their sport without a support team.
picture alliance/Getty Images/Amanda K Bailey
This year, Team USA issendingfive guidesthree men and two womento support its 220 athletes.
Visually impaired runners are literally tied to their guides.
It can vary in length based on the athletes needs.
The pairs go pretty much everywhere together during a competition.
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.
Veloso agrees: What makes us strong is knowing that we can count on each other in any situation.
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.
Jumpers and their guides spend hours together in training, developing bonds that eventually transcend the sport.
So I think that the beauty in our relationship has been that its evolved.
Visually impaired swimmers wait for a tap.
The devices they use, also called tappers, are typically homemade; theres no standard kind.
Others have used fishing poles or a cane with a tennis ball at the end.
In cycling and triathlon, pilots steer tandem bikes at high speeds.
Visually impaired cyclists, meanwhile, ride on tandem bikes behind a sighted cyclist.
Meanwhile, the para-athlete behind them is the stokerthey generate thepower.
The pair discusses their strategy beforehand.
During the race, they might communicate through words or signals.
Para-triathlete guides have a bunch of roles.
Visually impaired triathletes must have one same-gender guide from the same country,Triathletereports.
Blind football players listen out for sighted goalies and sideline guides.
Blind footballor blind soccer, as we call it in the USis a five-on-five game for visually impaired athletes.
The crowd, meanwhile, stays silent unless a goal is scored so the athletes can hear whats happening.
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.
Whats helpful for Polychronidis is how well his assistants already know him.
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.
Its something special; its something magnificent.
And lots of them will walk away with some hardware too.
Related:
Get more of SELFs great sports coverage delivered right to your inboxfor free.
