(BEIJING, September 7) -- Saturday night's Opening Ceremony marked the beginning of the Paralympic Games for over 4000 athletes competing in Beijing. About a quarter of these will be contesting the Athletics events at the Bird's Nest and have one more day to fine tune their techniques before competition begins on Monday, September 8.

Athletics stars from across the globe have been completing their final training routines at the National Stadium warm-up venue. On Monday the Bird's Nest arena will be transformed, and the first 10 Paralympic Athletics gold medals will be decided.

Altogether 1041 athletes will compete in the Athletics competition which runs through to the morning of the Closing Ceremony (September 17) when the final five gold medals, in the marathon, are decided. Eighteen morning and evening sessions (encompassing 401 heats and finals) will decide the winners of 160 Paralympic Athletics gold medals.

The Athletics competition includes track and road events (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10000m, 4x100m, 4x400m and Marathons); field events (Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump, Javelin, Shot Put, Discus Throw and Club Throw); and Pentathlon events.

Athletes compete according to their functional...