# Wheelchair rugby at the 2004 Summer Paralympics

Wheelchair Rugby at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was held at the Helliniko Indoor Arena. 89 athletes participated in the competition, with teams from eight countries taking part.
While wheelchair rugby was designated as a mixed sport, with both men and women eligible to participate in the competition, no female athletes took part.
New Zealand's victory in the gold medal game represented the first time that a country from outside North America had won a Paralympics or World Championships title in the sport.
The wheelchair rugby competition in Athens was featured in the 2005 documentary film, Murderball.

## Medalists

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Mixed wheelchair rugby | New Zealand (NZL) Dan Buckingham Stephen Guthrie Bill Oughton Timothy Johnson Geremy Tinker Jai Waite Sholto Taylor Gary McMurray Curtis Palmer | Canada (CAN) Allan Cartrand Fabien Lavoie Jared Funk David Willsie Patrice Simard Mike Bacon Michael Whitehead Daniel Paradis Raymond Lizotte Garett Hickling Ian Chan Allan Semenuik | United States (USA) Lynn Nelson Clifton Chunn Wayne Romero Brent Poppen Will Groulx Scott Hogsett Bob Lujano Andy Cohn Norman Lyduch Bryan Kirkland Mark Zupan Sam Gloor |

## Classification

Wheelchair rugby players were given a classification based on their upper body function. A committee gave each athlete a 7-level score ranging from 0.5 to 3.5, with lower scores corresponding to more severe disability. During the game, the total score of all players on the court for a team cannot exceed 8 points. However, for each female player on court, their team gets an extra 0.5 points over the 8 point limit.

## Teams

Eight teams took part in this sport. Each team could have up to 12 athletes, but no more than 11 of the team members could be male. Listed below are the eight teams qualified for the Athens Paralympics.
* Qualified teams
* 1.  United States (USA)
* 2.  Canada (CAN)
* 3.  Australia (AUS)
* 4.  Great Britain (GBR)
* 6.  New Zealand (NZL)
* 5.  Germany (GER)
* 8.  Japan (JPN)
* 7.  Belgium (BEL)

## Tournament
### Competition format

The eight teams were divided into two even groups and participated in a single round robin tournament. The top two teams from each group went on to compete for 1st through 4th place, while the last two teams from each group competed for 5th through 8th place.

### Preliminary Round

Group A :
| Rank | Team | Pld | W | L | G:GA | Pts |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 138:109 | 6 |
| 2 | New Zealand (NZL) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 120:101 | 5 |
| 3 | Australia (AUS) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 117:137 | 4 |
| 4 | Japan (JPN) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 121:149 | 3 |
Group B :
| Rank | Team | Pld | W | L | G:GA | Pts |
| 1 | Great Britain (GBR) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 100:82 | 6 |
| 2 | Canada (CAN) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 96:91 | 5 |
| 3 | Belgium (BEL) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 91:93 | 4 |
| 4 | Germany (GER) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 93:114 | 3 |
    Qualified for quarterfinals
| Time | Match | Teams | Final score |
| September 19, 2004 ||||
| 10:00 | 1 | GBR vs. BEL | 27 - 22 |
| 12:00 | 2 | CAN vs. GER | 33 - 30 (OT) |
| 17:00 | 3 | USA vs. JPN | 54 - 39 |
| 19:00 | 4 | AUS vs. NZL | 31 - 41 |
| September 20, 2004 ||||
| 10:00 | 5 | GER vs. BEL | 33 - 40 |
| 12:00 | 6 | CAN vs. GBR | 30 - 32 (OT) |
| 17:00 | 7 | AUS vs. JPN | 48 - 47 |
| 19:00 | 8 | USA vs. NZL | 35 - 32 |
| September 21, 2004 ||||
| 10:00 | 9 | GBR vs. GER | 40 - 33 |
| 12:00 | 10 | CAN vs. BEL | 33 - 29 |
| 17:00 | 11 | NZL vs. JPN | 47 - 35 |
| 19:00 | 12 | USA vs. AUS | 49 - 38 |
Source: Paralympic.org

### Medal round

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 23 September 2004 - 10:00 | 23 September 2004 - 10:00 | | | |
| United States | 46 | | | |
| United States | 46 | 24 September 2004 - 17:00 | 24 September 2004 - 17:00 | | |
| Germany | 34 | 24 September 2004 - 17:00 | 24 September 2004 - 17:00 | |
| Germany | 34 | United States | 20 | |
| 23 September 2004 - 19:00 | 23 September 2004 - 19:00 | | United States | 20 | |
| 23 September 2004 - 19:00 | 23 September 2004 - 19:00 | Canada | 24 | |
| Canada | 36 | Canada | 24 | |
| Canada | 36 | | | | 25 September 2004 - 19:00 | 25 September 2004 - 19:00 |
| Australia | 33 | | | | 25 September 2004 - 19:00 | 25 September 2004 - 19:00 |
| Australia | 33 | | | | Canada | 29 |
| 23 September 2004 - 12:00 | 23 September 2004 - 12:00 | | | | | Canada | 29 |
| 23 September 2004 - 12:00 | 23 September 2004 - 12:00 | | | | New Zealand | 31 |
| Great Britain | 50 | | | | New Zealand | 31 |
| Great Britain | 50 | 24 September 2004 - 19:00 | 24 September 2004 - 19:00 | | | |
| Japan | 42 | 24 September 2004 - 19:00 | 24 September 2004 - 19:00 | | | |
| Japan | 42 | Great Britain | 35 | | | |
| 23 September 2004 - 17:00 | 23 September 2004 - 17:00 | | Great Britain | 35 | | | |
| 23 September 2004 - 17:00 | 23 September 2004 - 17:00 | New Zealand | 39 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| New Zealand | 40 | New Zealand | 39 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| New Zealand | 40 | | | | 25 September 2004 - 17:00 | 25 September 2004 - 17:00 |
| Belgium | 33 | | | | 25 September 2004 - 17:00 | 25 September 2004 - 17:00 |
| Belgium | 33 | | | | Great Britain | 39 |
| | | | | | United States | 43 |
Source: Paralympic.org

### Classification 5-8

| Classification round | Classification round | Fifth place | Fifth place |
| 24 September 2004 - 10:00 | 24 September 2004 - 10:00 |
| Belgium | 36 |
| Belgium | 36 | 25 September 2004 - 12:00 | 25 September 2004 - 12:00 |
| Japan | 35 | 25 September 2004 - 12:00 | 25 September 2004 - 12:00 |
| Japan | 35 | Belgium | 43 |
| 24 September 2004 - 12:00 | 24 September 2004 - 12:00 | | Belgium | 43 |
| 24 September 2004 - 12:00 | 24 September 2004 - 12:00 | Australia | 46 |
| Australia | 44 | Australia | 46 |
| Germany | 40 | | |
| Germany | 40 | Seventh place | Seventh place |
| | | 25 September 2004 - 10:00 | 25 September 2004 - 10:00 |
| | | Germany | 41 |
| | | Japan | 40 |
Source: Paralympic.org

## Ranking

| Place | Team |
| | New Zealand |
| | Canada |
| | United States |
| 4. | Great Britain |
| 5. | Australia |
| 6. | Belgium |
| 7. | Germany |
| 8. | Japan |