Paralympic Games
The Paralympic Games are an elite multi-sport event for
athletes with a disability. This includes mobility disabilities,
amputees,
visual disabilities and those with cerebral palsy. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, following the
Olympic Games, and are governed by the
International Paralympic Committee .
Encyclopedia
The
Paralympic Games are an elite multi-sport event for
athletes with a disability. This includes mobility disabilities,
amputees,
visual disabilities and those with cerebral palsy. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, following the
Olympic Games, and are governed by the
International Paralympic Committee .
History
Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition in 1948 which became known as the Stoke Mandeville Games, involving
World War II veterans with
spinal cord injuries; in 1952 competitors from the
Netherlands took part in the competition, giving an international notion to the movement. The first Olympic-style games for athletes with a disability were held in
Rome in 1960; officially called the 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games, these are considered to be the first Paralympic Games. The first Winter Paralympics were held in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden in 1976.
Since 1988, the Summer Paralympics have been held in the conjunction with the
Olympic Games in the same host city. This practice was adopted in 1992 for the Winter Paralympics, and became an official policy of the International Olympic Committee and the IPC following a June 19, 2001 agreement. The Games take place three weeks after the closing of the Olympics, in the same host city and using the same facilities. Cities bidding to host the Olympic Games must include the Paralympic Games in their bid, and typically both Games are now run by a single organizing committee.
In the 1996 Atlanta Games athletes with intellectual disabilities were allowed to participate for the first time. However following cheating in the 2000 Sydney Games, in which non-disabled athletes were entered in the
Spanish Basketball ID team , such athletes were banned by the IPC . Following an anti-corruption drive, the International Sports Federation for Persons with an Intellectual Disability lobbied to have these athletes reinstated. Beginning in 2004, athletes with an intellectual disability began to be re-integrated into Paralympic sport competitions, although they remain excluded from the Paralympic Games. The IPC has stated that it will re-evaluate their participation following the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
The name derives from the Greek "para" and thus refers to a competition held in parallel with the
Olympic Games. No relation with paralysis or paraplegia is intended.
Summer Games
- 1960 Summer Paralympics, Rome, Italy
- 1964 Summer Paralympics, Tokyo, Japan
- 1968 Summer Paralympics, Tel Aviv, Israel
- 1972 Summer Paralympics, Heidelberg, Germany
- 1976 Summer Paralympics, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- 1980 Summer Paralympics, Arnhem, Netherlands
- 1984 Summer Paralympics, Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom & New York, United States of America
- 1988 Summer Paralympics, Seoul, South Korea
- 1992 Summer Paralympics, Barcelona, Spain
- 1996 Summer Paralympics, Atlanta, Georgia
- Georgia [i], a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia: **Formerly ...
, United States - 2000 Summer Paralympics, Sydney, Australia
- 2004 Summer Paralympics, Athens, Greece
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ...
Winter Games
- 1976 Winter Paralympics, Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
- 1980 Winter Paralympics, Geilo, Norway
...
...
...
,
Salt Lake City,
United States of AmericaTurin is a major industrial city [i] in north-western Italy [i], capital [i] of the Piedmont [i] ...
,
ItalySummer sports
- Archery
- Athletics
- Basketball ID
- Boccia
- Cycling
- Equestrian
- Fencing
- 5-a-side Football
- 7-a-side Football
- Goalball
- Judo
- Bowls
- Powerlifting
- Rowing
- Sailing
- Shooting
- Swimming
- Table Tennis
- Wheelchair basketball
- Wheelchair rugby
- Wheelchair tennis
- Volleyball
Winter sports
- Alpine skiing
- Nordic skiing
- Biathlon
- Cross-country skiing
- Wheelchair curling
- Sledge hockey
Disability categories
- Amputee: An athlete with a partial or total loss of at least one limb.
- Cerebral Palsy: People who have non-progressive brain damage, for example cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke or a similar problem affecting muscle control, balance or coordination.
- Intellectual Disability: An athlete who has a significant impairment in intellectual functioning with associated limitations in adaptive behaviour. This category is currently suspended.
- Wheelchair: For all athletes with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities which require them to compete in a wheelchair. Athletes must have at least 10 per cent loss of function to their lower limbs.
- Vision-Impaired: Athletes who have a vision impairment ranging from partial vision to total blindness.
- Les Autres: French for the others and includes competitors with a mobility impairment
Disability refers to the social effects of physical, emotional or mental impairment....
or other loss of physical function that does not fall strictly under one of the other five categories.
Dwarfism,
multiple sclerosis or birth deformities of the limbs such as that caused by
thalidomide are examples of this.
The categories apply for both summer and winter paralympics.
Notes
The IPC has set up national Paralympic Games for competitions organized under the national Paralympic Committees.
External links
See also
References
