After World War II, many veterans and civilians were injured during the war. In Great Britain at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Dr. Ludwig Guttman decided to get the victims to play sports to pass the time. In 1948, 14 men and 2 women who were all in wheelchairs competed in archery. This is thought of as the first Paralympic Games which was what Dr. Guttman called the Stoke Mandeville Games at the time. It became an international movement four years later when competitors from Holland joined. It officially became the Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome, Italy with 400 athletes from 23 countries competing. Since then, the Paralympics have been held every four years, parallel to the Olympics.
The Paralympics today are elite international multi-sport events including athletes with disabilities like permanent physical, vision, and intellectual impairments. They work on a classification system which ensures a fair competition by grouping athletes in the same sport based on their functional ability. This ensures a fair performance by skill, not impairment severity. A paralympian must be checked by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) through observations and tests such as “Eligible Impairment” and “Minimum Impairment Criteria”.
Paralympians also are given specialized equipment like prosthetics and wheelchairs to help them compete. These can be equipment like specialized wheelchairs with angled wheels that improve speed, sledges and two picks for para ice hockey, or digital caps for visually impaired swimmers. Visually impaired competitors are also allowed to have a sighted guide for some sports.
There are 28 Paralympic sports on the program (23 summer and 5 winter). The most popular Paralympic sports are Wheelchair Basketball, Para Athletics, and Wheelchair Rugby for summer games and Para Ice Hockey, Para Alpine Skiing/Snowboarding, and Wheelchair Curling for winter games. The most recent summer sport added to the program is Para Climbing which was approved by the IPC and will be introduced in Los Angeles in 2028. The most recent winter sport added to the program was Para Snowboarding which was introduced in Sochi 2014.
