The History of the Paralympic Games

We all know that the Paralympic Games takes place in conjunction with the Olympic Games but what is the true history of the Games and how have they developed over the years to become the international multi-sport event that they now are?

The first organized athletic event for disabled athletes was really a small gathering of British World War II veterans. On the opening day of 1948 Olympic Games, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann of Stoke Mandeville Hospital hosted a sports competition for the war veteran patients with spinal cord injuries. These first games were called the 1948 International Wheelchair Games. Dr. Guttman's aim was to create an elite sports competition for people with disabilities that would be equivalent to the Olympic Games. The Games were held again at the same location in 1952, and Dutch veterans took part alongside the British, making it the first international competition of its kind. These early competitions were known as the Stoke Mandeville Games and were the starting point of the international Paralympics Games that we see today.

The Paralympics Games has changed somewhat since that time and it was in Rome in 1960 that we first saw Games that were open for all athletes and not just war veterans - 400 athletes from 23 countries competed. However, the Games remained limited to those athletes in wheelchairs. It was not until the Summer Games in 1976 that the Games became open to all disabled athletes and this impacted on the number of participants with 1600 athletes from 40 countries.

In 1988, for the first time, the Summer Paralympic Games were held directly after the Olympic Summer Games and used the same host city, Seoul in South Korea, and the same sporting facilities. These Paralympics Games continued in 1992 and 1996. Finally, in 2001 an agreement between the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was reached that safeguarded all future Paralympics Games.

The development of the Winter Games was slightly slower than that of the Summer Games and it was not until 1976 that we saw the first Winter Paralympic Games in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. 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 until 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 Games.

As we look forward to the Paralympic Games 2012 we must salute the development of the Games from their humble beginnings to the truly international event that they have now become recognised the world over. The Summer Paralympic Games has increased from 400 athletes in Rome in 1960 to over 3,900 athletes from 146 countries in Beijing in 2008 highlighting the elite disabled athletes from all over the globe.

We have many events to look forward to in next year’s Summer Paralympic Games 2012 and over the next few weeks I will be exploring each in more detail and I look forward to sharing with you the facts and intricate rules that make each event unique.