The court is the same size, the basket is at the same height and diameter, and the ball is also the same. The sweating uniforms, the free throw and the three point shot are identical. The victory will be there when the stopwatch stops. But there is something that does not exist in the Olympic Games: the duel in wheelchairs.

The adrenaline of athletes in moving wheelchairs makes Wheelchair Basketball one of the most traditional sports in the world. It was one of the eight sports included in the first editions of the Paralympic Games at Rome 1960. From therapy to a holiday pastime at its outset after World War II in the US and UK, it became a widespread practice for all profiles of practitioners  in the five continents.

This sport is contested in about 100 countries. At the London 2012 Paralympic Games, 12 male and female teams will be seeking medals in two of the most balanced competitions in the programme. At Beijing 2008, Australia, among men, and the US, among women, took the lead and made history.

At the two first Paralympic Games editions, Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964, there were only men’s tournaments in classes A (athletes with complete spinal cord injuries) and B (athletes with incomplete spinal cord injuries). The US won all gold medals.

Since Tel Aviv 1968, women have been earning their space, as the Israeli housewives became the first Wheelchair Basketball women champions. They repeated their achievement at Toronto 1976. Argentina had the upper hand in medals at Heidelberg 1972. West Germany reached the top at Arnheim 1980 and Stoke Mandeville/New York 1984. From then on, the US and Canada have dominated Women’s Wheelchair Basketball, with three gold medals each. The US female players are the current two-time champions.

At Men’s Wheelchair Basketball, the US and Israel dominated the victories between 1968 and 1988, falling behind only to France in 1984. From then on, Canada and Australia have earned two gold each. Holland earned one, after three consecutive editions with silver (between 1980 and 1988). Wheelchair Basketball is also a traditional sport in Great Britain, the host-nation of the 2012 Games. It won two bronze at the last two editions of the Paralympic Games.

Shaun Norris won the gold medal with Australia at Beijing 2008 (Foto: ©Getty Images/Adam Pretty)

The Wheelchair Basketball athlete has to pass or shoot every two touches with the hand on the wheelchair. The Wheelchair Basketball teams use a classification system to evaluate the physical/motor disabilities of players on a point scale of 1 to 4.5 according to the level of interference with the gameThe five players from each team on the court during play may not exceed a total of 14 points.

The physical contact, the speed at which the athletes move on the court and the intensity of each moment are some of the attractions to an increasing and faithful audience. Millions of fans will be attending the Wheelchair Basketball Games at the Basketball Arena at the London Olympic Park, and at the North Greenwich Arena, between 30 August and 8 September, maintaining the tradition. The same is expected for the Rio 2016™ Games in four years. When it comes to wheelchair dueling, the Wheelchair Basketball Games have more than that it takes.