Just a few weeks after the Olympic Games, it’s time for the Paralympics. They are the Olympic event for athletes with physical and mental disabilities and now usually take place in the same cities that have also hosted the Olympic Summer / Winter Games.
The idea of Paralympic Games was born in 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports competition in England for World War II veterans with physical disabilities. Four years later, the event became international when participants from Holland joined in. In 1960 the Paralympics finally became an Olympic event.
400 athletes came to the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960. In Athens in 2004, more than 3800 athletes from all over the world competed in 19 different sports.
By the way, ‘para’ is a Greek word meaning ‘alongside/beside’. So the word Paralympic means ‘ (die Spiele neben den Spielen) the Games parallel to the Olympic Games’.
Host Cities
Summer Games
- 1960 Rome, Italy
- 1964 Tokyo, Japan
- 1968 Tel Aviv, Israel
- 1972 Heidelberg, Germany
- 1976 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- 1980 Arnhem, Netherlands
- 1984 Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom & New York, United States of America
- 1988 Seoul, South Korea
- 1992 Barcelona, Spain
- 1996 Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- 2000 Sydney, Australia
- 2004 Athens, Greece
- 2008 Beijing, China
- 2012 London, United Kingdom
Winter Games
- 1976 Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
- 1980 Geilo, Norway
- 1984 Innsbruck, Austria
- 1988 Innsbruck, Austria
- 1992 Tignes-Albertville, France
- 1994 Lillehammer, Norway
- 1998 Nagano, Japan
- 2002 Salt Lake City, United States of America
- 2006 Turin, Italy
- 2010 Vancouver, Canada
Summer Sports
- (Bogenschießen) Archery
- (Leichtathletik) Athletics
- Boccia
- Cycling
- (Reiten) Equestrian
- Football 5-a-Side
- Football 7-a-Side
- Goalball
- Judo
- Powerlifting
- Sailing
- Shooting
- Swimming
- Table Tennis
- Volleyball
- (Rollstuhl) Wheelchair Basketball
- Wheelchair Dance Sport
- Wheelchair Fencing
- Wheelchair Rugby
- Wheelchair Tennis