Paralympians stay in the Olympic Village, participate in many of the same sports plus a few adaptive ones, and have the same desire to excel. Ostrowski was diagnosed with RP at age 10, but actually had begun losing her sight to the degenerative disease at birth. She has a small amount of residual sight in her left eye. She does not, however, have an advantage in goalball, an adaptive sport for the visually disabled. Goalball is a game played with three team members per side, and is played on a volleyball court.
Players roll a ball that contains bells that can be heard through eight open holes.
Defending players must listen for the sound to gauge where the ball is, then must position themselves, usually by diving across the floor, to prevent the ball from crossing the end line. If they fail to stop it, the offensive team, or team that threw the ball, scores a point. Those with partial sight get no advantage. All players wear blackened ski goggles to eliminate any advantage for the partially sighted. Players also wear a girdle-type device stuffed with pads to cushion their constant dives and rolls on the hard floor.