The Paralympic Games are an official equivalent of the Olympics for athletes with physical disabilities. This includes mobility disabilities, amputees , visual disabilities and those with Cerebral Palsy . It is different from the Special Olympics .
Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition in 1948 which became known as the Stoke Mandeville Games , involving World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries ; in 1952 competitors from the Netherlands took part in the competition, giving an international notion to the movement. The first Olympic Style games for athletes with a disability were held in Rome in 1960 which became the Paralympic Games. The first Winter Paralympics were held in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden in 1976 . The Games are now always held alongside the Olympic Games as of June 19 , 2001 when an agreement was signed between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) securing this practice for the future.
1996 Atlanta games athletes with intellectual disabilities were allowed to participate for the first time. However following cheating by the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) in the 2000 Sydney games, in which non-disabled athletes were entered in the Spanish basketball team, such athletes have been banned by the IPC. Following an anti-corruption drive the INAS-FID is currently lobbying to have such athletes reinstated.
motto is the ´´Spirit in Motion´´.
Greek "para" ("beside" or "alongside"), and has nothing do do with paralysis or paraplegia .
Summer Games
1960 Summer Paralympics , Rome , Italy 1964 Summer Paralympics , Tokyo , Japan 1968 Summer Paralympics , Tel Aviv , Israel 1972 Summer Paralympics , Heidelberg, Germany 1976 Summer Paralympics , Toronto , Ontario , Canada 1980 Summer Paralympics , Arnhem , Netherlands 1984 Summer Paralympics , Stoke Mandeville , United Kingdom & New York , United States of America 1988 Summer Paralympics , Seoul , South Korea 1992 Summer Paralympics , Barcelona , Spain 1996 Summer Paralympics , Atlanta, Georgia, United States 2000 Summer Paralympics , Sydney , Australia 2004 Summer Paralympics , Athens , Greece 2008 Summer Paralympics , Beijing , China 2012 Summer Paralympics , Up for Bidding
Winter Games 1976 Winter Paralympics , Örnsköldsvik , Sweden 1980 Winter Paralympics , Geilo , Norway 1984 Winter Paralympics , Innsbruck , Austria 1988 Winter Paralympics , Innsbruck , Austria 1992 Winter Paralympics , Tignes-Albertville, France 1994 Winter Paralympics , Lillehammer , Norway 1998 Winter Paralympics , Nagano , Japan 2002 Winter Paralympics , Salt Lake City , United States of America 2006 Winter Paralympics , Turin , Italy 2010 Winter Paralympics , Vancouver , Canada 2014 Winter Paralympics, Up for Bidding
Summer sports
Winter sports Alpine Skiing Cross-Country Skiing Curling Ice Sledge Hockey Ice Sledge Racing Wheelchair Dance
External links Official IPC Website (http://www.paralympic.org ) Official ATHENS 2004 Website (http://www.athens2004.com )
Results from FactBites:
BBC SPORT | Winter Olympics 2002 | Paralympics (351 words)
United States' Sarah Will wins the women's giant slalom at the Winter Paralympics to claim the 11th gold medal of her career. Russell Docker and Stephen Napier are ready to fly the flag for Britain at the 2002 Winter Paralympics . The Paralympic Winter Games were first held in Sweden in 1976 , but the international movement is much older.
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