Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a
periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities.
There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics
in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All
Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The Paralympics began as a small gathering of British World War II veterans in 1948. The 1960
Games in Rome drew 400 athletes with disabilities from 23 countries, as proposed by
doctor Antonio Maglio. As of the early 21st century, it is one of the largest international sporting
events, with 4,520 athletes from 163 National Paralympic Committees at the 2020 Summer
Paralympics.[1] Paralympians strive for equal treatment with non-disabled Olympic athletes, but
there is a large funding gap between Olympic and Paralympic athletes. [2]
The Paralympic Games are organized in parallel with and in a similar way to the Olympic Games.
The IOC-recognized Special Olympics World Games include athletes with intellectual disabilities
(although since 1992, intellectually disabled people also participate in the Paralympic Games),
and the Deaflympics held since 1924 are exclusive for deaf athletes. [3][4]
Given the wide variety of disabilities of Para athletes, there are several categories in which they
compete. The allowable disabilities are divided into ten eligible impairment types: impaired
muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short
stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment.[5] These
categories are further divided into various subcategories.

1.
1.
2.
3.
PARALYMPIC SPORTS
There are currently 28 Paralympic sports sanctioned by the IPC: 22 summer and six
winter.

The two newest sports to be given Paralympic status are badminton and taekwondo,
which will both make their debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

The newest winter sport is snowboard, which was first introduced at the Sochi 2014
Paralympic Winter Games

SUMMER SPORTS

1. Para archery
2. Para athletics
3. Para badminton
4. Blind football
5. Boccia
6. Para canoe
7. Para cycling
8. Para equestrian
9. Goalball
10. Para judo
11. Para powerlifting
12. Para rowing
13. Shooting Para sport
14. Sitting volleyball
15. Para swimming
16. Para table tennis
17. Para taekwondo
18. Para triathlon
19. Wheelchair basketball
20. Wheelchair fencing
21. Wheelchair rugby, Wheelchair tennis

Winter Games

Main article: Winter Paralympic Games

The first Winter Paralympic Games were held in 1976 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. This was
the first Paralympics in which multiple categories of athletes with disabilities could
compete.[14] The Winter Games were celebrated every four years on the same year as their
summer counterpart, just as the Olympics were. This tradition was upheld through
the 1992 Games in Albertville, France; after that, beginning with the 1994 Games, the
Winter Paralympics and the Winter Olympics have been held in those even-numbered
years separate from the Summer Olympics.The winter games happen two years after the
summer games.[14]

WINTER SPORTS

1. Para alpine skiing

2. Para biathlon
3. Para cross-country skiing
4. Para ice hockey
5. Para snowboard
THE HISTORY OF THE PARALYMPIC GAMES

Paralympic history began in 1948 at a hospital for war veterans in Stoke

Mandeville, located 60 kilometres north of London. German neurologist Sir
Ludwig Guttman was looking for a way to help his paraplegic patients, all
World War II veterans, rehabilitate more quickly. His specialised unit was
made up Royal Air Force pilots with spinal cord injuries, who all needed to use
wheelchairs. Dr Guttman organised sporting events as the Olympic Games
took place in London.
Sixteen veterans in wheelchairs faced off in archery and netball competitions, the latter sport already
practised by American returning soldiers; by organising these competitions, Dr Guttman had
unknowingly created a new sporting movement. He said, “until then, the problem was hopeless,
because we had not only to save the life of these paraplegic or quadriplegic men, women and children
but also give them back their dignity and make them happy and respected citizens” (source: the
significance of Sport in the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, International Congress, 1956).