The Paralympic Games

Empowering and Inspiring Athletic Competition

The Paralympic Games, which will be held September 6-17 in Beijing, have a history stretching back more than 60 years.

Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a German-born neurologist living in London, organized a sports competition in 1948 called the Stoke Mandeville Games, which included World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries. Four years later, the games included competitors from the Netherlands, bringing an international presence to the competition. The tournament now considered to be the first Paralympic Games was held in Rome in 1960, and since 1988, the Paralympics have been held in the same host city as the Olympic Games three weeks after the latter competition has concluded.

Athletes with many different types of disabilities compete in the Paralympics. The eligible categories currently include amputees, those confined to wheelchairs, cerebral-palsy sufferers, visually impaired individuals and “les autres” — those athletes whose disabilities are not specifically mentioned, such as dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.

This year’s Summer Paralympic Games will include competitions in archery, cycling, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, table tennis, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing and wheelchair tennis, among many other sports. The Winter Paralympics, which will be held in March 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, will include alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, the biathlon and wheelchair curling, among other competitions.

For more information about the Paralympics, or to donate money to help finance the United States 2008 Paralympic Team, please visit http://paralympics.teamusa.org/