With the Paralympic Games kicking off in Paris next week, we look at the origins of the competition.
What began after World War II as a rehabilitation effort for veterans has grown into a global celebration of human achievement, giving athletes with disabilities a platform to showcase their talent on the world stage.
The first official Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960, but the event can be traced back much further than that. Their true origins lie in Stoke Mandeville, England, with a man named Dr. Ludwig Gutmann. Gutmann was born and raised in Germany, but as a Jew, he faced persecution when the Nazis took power. He finally fled to England on the eve of World War II and arrived in Oxford in March 1939.
Gutman continued to work in Britain, specializing in spinal cord injuries, which he researched in the first few years of the war. In 1944, Guttmann was asked by the British government to open a spinal cord injury center at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. The foundations of the Paralympics were laid here. What began as sport for rehabilitation became sport for recreation and in 1948, with the end of the war, the inaugural Stoke-Mandville Games were held.
The first edition coincided with the opening ceremony of the 1948 London Olympics. Sixteen wounded servicemen and women, all in wheelchairs, participated in an archery competition. By 1952, wounded Dutch veterans had joined and the Stoke Mandeville games were now international.
When the Paralympic Games were officially held in 1960, 400 athletes from 23 countries traveled to Rome to compete. Since then, these games are held every four years. The first Winter Games in Paralympic history were held in Sweden in 1976. Both events hold opening and closing ceremonies.
Since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France, the Olympic and Paralympic Games have always been held in the same city. Beginning in Seoul, the Paralympics used the same facilities as the Olympics, meaning athletes could compete in front of much larger audiences.
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In 1989, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was founded in Germany. The word “Paralympic” is derived from the Greek preposition “para” (beside or beside) and the word “Olympic”.
By this time, the Paralympics had already greatly expanded the range of competition – as well as spinal cord injuries, they had grown to include a wider range of disabilities, including sight and hearing impairments and amputations. place – but the IPC helped increase sponsorships and television. cover This was evident at the 1992 Barcelona Games, where a record number of spectators attended the Paralympics.
As games have moved into the 21st century, their popularity continues to grow. Millions of people attend the Paralympic Games in person and billions more watch around the world.
Dr. Ludwig Gutmann, in turn, received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 1960. As the Paralympic Games grew, he competed in most of the Paralympic Games before dying of a heart attack in 1979.
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