Paralympic Fact - Did you know......

The story of the Paralympics began with Dr. Ludwig Guttman of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England.

In 1944, he began using sports as a form of recreation and physical therapy for veterans of World War II with spinal cord injuries.

In 1948, on the day that the Olympic Summer Games opened in London, he organized the Stoke Mandeville Games, a competition for wheelchair athletes. This became an annual event, and, in 1952, it achieved international standing, as athletes from the Netherlands joined the competition.

This competition—now known as the World Wheelchair Games—is still held annually, except in years with Paralympic Summer Games.