Paralympic Games

Just a few weeks after the Olympic Games, it’s time for the Paralympics. They are the Olympic event for athletes with physical and mental disabilities and now usually take place in the same cities that have also hosted the Olympic Summer / Winter Games.

The idea of Paralympic Games was born in 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports competition in England for World War II veterans with physical disabilities. Four years later, the event became international when participants from Holland joined in. In 1960 the Paralympics finally became an Olympic event.

400 athletes came to the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960. In Athens in 2004, more than 3800 athletes from all over the world competed in 19 different sports.

By the way, ‘para’ is a Greek word meaning ‘alongside/beside’. So the word Paralympic means ‘the Games parallel to the Olympic Games’.

Host Cities

Summer Games

1960 Rome, Italy
1964 Tokyo, Japan
1968 Tel Aviv, Israel
1972 Heidelberg, Germany
1976 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1980 Arnhem, Netherlands
1984 Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom & New York, United States of America
1988 Seoul, South Korea
1992 Barcelona, Spain
1996 Atlanta, Georgia, United States
2000 Sydney, Australia
2004 Athens, Greece
2008 Beijing, China
2012 London, United Kingdom

Winter Games

1976 Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
1980 Geilo, Norway
1984 Innsbruck, Austria
1988 Innsbruck, Austria
1992 Tignes-Albertville, France
1994 Lillehammer, Norway
1998 Nagano, Japan
2002 Salt Lake City, United States of America
2006 Turin, Italy
2010 Vancouver, Canada

Summer Sports

Archery
Athletics
Boccia
Cycling
Equestrian
Football 5-a-Side
Football 7-a-Side
Goalball
Judo
Powerlifting
Sailing
Shooting
Swimming
Table Tennis
Volleyball
Wheelchair Basketball
Wheelchair Dance Sport
Wheelchair Fencing
Wheelchair Rugby
Wheelchair Tennis

Winter Sports

Alpine Skiing
Ice Sledge Hockey
Nordic Skiing
Wheelchair Curling

Changed: 01st Feb 2006 11:41

URL: http://www.ego4u.com/en/read-on/animals/olympic/paralympic