Paralympic Games: Information, News and Events

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The Paralympic Games are a multi-sport event for athletes with physical, mental and sensorial disabilities. 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 (IPC) - (The Paralympic Games are sometimes confused with the Special Olympics, which are only for people with intellectual disabilities.)

There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. The International Paralympic Committee governs all Paralympic Games (IPC).

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When did the Paralympic Games First start?

The Paralympics started in 1948 when Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition involving World War 2 veterans with spinal injuries. Afterward, a similar event was organized in Toronto, Canada, where different disability groups were added, and the idea of merging and participating in athletic sports was a success.

The name derives from the Greek "para" ("beside" or "alongside") and thus refers to a competition held in parallel with the Olympic Games. No relation with paralysis or paraplegia is intended. However, Paralympic was originally a portmanteau combining 'paraplegic' and 'Olympic.'

The number of athletes participating in the Summer Paralympic Games has increased from 400 athletes from 23 countries in Rome in 1960 to 3806 athletes from 136 countries in Athens in 2004.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and serves as the International Federation for nine sports, for which it supervises and co-ordinates the World Championships and other competitions.

The Summer and Winter Paralympic Games are the ultimate international competitions for world-class athletes with a disability. They are linked to the Olympic celebrations every two years, and athletes must meet strict qualifying standards to compete.

Paralympic Medals Now Make a Sound When You Shake Them

Winning Paralympic athletes are now presented medals filled with tiny steel balls, which allow a Paralympian with visual impairment to experience their win aurally by shaking them.

The number of balls increases by place;16 for bronze, 20 for silver, and 28 for gold, so each 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medal makes a different sound.

Paralympic medals have featured braille before, and the shakeable medal helps make the Paralympic games even more accessible to all athletes with disabilities.

Disability Category Definitions for Paralympic Games

(These categories apply to both summer and winter Paralympics.)

• Amputee: Athletes with a partial or total loss of at least one limb.
• Cerebral Palsy: Athletes with non-progressive brain damage, for example, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke, or similar disabilities affecting muscle control, balance, or coordination.
• Intellectual Disability: Athletes with a significant impairment in intellectual functioning and associated limitations in adaptive behavior (currently suspended.)
• Wheelchair: Athletes with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities require them to compete in a wheelchair.
• Visually Impaired: Athletes with vision impairment ranging from partial vision, sufficient to be judged legally blind, to total blindness.
• Athletes with a physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other five categories, such as dwarfism, multiple sclerosis, or congenital deformities of the limbs such as that caused by thalidomide.

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