About the Games
A celebration of excellence and inspiration to achieve
An invitation for the world to gather and dream in common spirit
Chronicle: Paralympic Games
The Paralympics’ roots date back to 1948 when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition in Stoke Mandeville, England for World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries. Norwegian athletes with similar injuries joined the event four years later, launching a new international sport movement.
As the competition gained momentum, an Olympic style event, now called Paralympics, was staged in Rome in 1960. Athletes with other disabilities joined the Paralymics at the 1976 Toronto event; that same year Sweden hosted the first Paralympic Winter Games.
Today’s Paralympic events are for athletes with six types of disabilities:
- Amputee
- Cerebral palsy
- Visual impairment
- Spinal cord injuries
- Intellectual disability
- Les autres, for athletes with disabilities other than those listed
The Paralympic Games have always taken place at the time as the Olympic Games. Since the Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games and the Albertville 1992 Winter Paralympic Games, they have been held in the same host city and at many of the same venues as the Olympics. An agreement in 2001 with the International Olympic Committee formalized this practice and cities bidding for Olympic Games are now obliged to host the corresponding Paralympic Games.
