How did the Paralympics movement?

Question

After the summer and winter Olympics end, the paralympics begins about two weeks later so that athletics who are disabled can compete. I was wondering how the Paralympics begin and who were the founders of the Paralympics?

Answer 1

The Paralympics movement started shortly after WW II, with the efforts of Sir Ludwig Gutmann, a British surgeon wo headed the Stoke-Mandeville hospital for people with spinal cord injuries. The Games were first known as the Stoke-Mandeville Games and were restricted to participants with spinal cord injury and spina bifida. However, soon enough, more and more sports were adapted for athletes with different kinds of disability and since Rome 1960 the present-day concept was more or less established. Between 1960 and 1976 the Games were called the Parallel Olympic Games, then as the "Paralympic Games" There were moments of uneasiness however. In 1976 Innsbruck refused to host the Winter Paralympics (the first ones) so they were held in Omskoldsvik, Sweden, instead. In 1980, Moscow refused to play host to the Paralympics (the Soviets claimed they had no persons with disabilities, because their medical system was so perfect!) so instead they were held in Utrecht, Holland. But then, the Paralympics knew the steady development we all see today, with stunning athletic achievements. The International Paralympic Comitee is located in Bonn, Grermany and its current president is the Englishman Sir Philip Craven.

Answer 2

The Paralympic Games are an elite multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities. This includes mobility disabilities, amputees, visual disabilities and those with cerebral palsy. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, following the Olympic Games, and are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). (The Paralympic Games are sometimes confused with the Special Olympics, which are only for people with intellectual disabilities.)

History
Sir 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; officially called the 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games, these are considered to be the first Paralympic Games. [1] The first Winter Paralympics were held in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden in 1976.
Since 1988, the Summer Paralympics have been held in the conjunction with the Olympic Games in the same host city. This practice was adopted in 1992 for the Winter Paralympics, and became an official policy of the International Olympic Committee and the IPC following a June 19, 2001 agreement. The Games take place three weeks after the closing of the Olympics, in the same host city and using the same facilities. Cities bidding to host the Olympic Games must include the Paralympic Games in their bid, and typically both Games are now run by a single organizing committee.

In the 1996 Atlanta Games athletes with intellectual disabilities were allowed to participate for the first time. However following cheating in the 2000 Sydney Games, in which non-disabled athletes were entered in the Spanish Basketball ID team [3], such athletes were banned by the IPC [4]. Following an anti-corruption drive, the International Sports Federation for Persons with an Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) lobbied to have these athletes reinstated. Beginning in 2004, athletes with an intellectual disability began to be re-integrated into Paralympic sport competitions, although they remain excluded from the Paralympic Games. [5] The IPC has stated that it will re-evaluate their participation following the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.[6]

The name derives from the Greek "para" ("beside" or "alongside") and thus refers to a competition held in parallel with the Olympic Games. No relation with paralysis or paraplegia is intended. [7]


[edit] Summer Games
Summer Paralympic Games
Year Games Host City Country
1960 Summer Paralympics I Rome Italy
1964 Summer Paralympics II Tokyo Japan
1968 Summer Paralympics III Tel Aviv Israel
1972 Summer Paralympics IV Heidelberg Germany
1976 Summer Paralympics V Toronto Ontario, Canada
1980 Summer Paralympics VI Arnhem Netherlands
1984 Summer Paralympics VII Stoke Mandeville & New York United States of America & United Kingdom
1988 Summer Paralympics VIII Seoul South Korea
1992 Summer Paralympics IX Barcelona Spain
1996 Summer Paralympics X Atlanta Georgia, United States
2000 Summer Paralympics XI Sydney Australia
2004 Summer Paralympics XII Athens Greece
2008 Summer Paralympics XIII Beijing China
2012 Summer Paralympics XIV London United Kingdom


[edit] 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

Summer Paralympic Games
Archery
Athletics (track and field)
Boccia
Cycling
Equestrian
Football 5-a-side
Football 7-a-side
Goalball
Judo
Powerlifting
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
Swimming
Table Tennis
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair fencing
Wheelchair rugby
Wheelchair tennis
Volleyball (sitting)

Winter Paralympic Games
Alpine skiing
Ice sledge hockey
Nordic skiing
Biathlon
Cross-country skiing
Wheelchair curling

Disability categories
Amputee: An athlete with a partial or total loss of at least one limb.
Cerebral Palsy: People who have non-progressive brain damage, for example cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke or a similar problem affecting muscle control, balance or coordination.
Intellectual Disability: An athlete who has a significant impairment in intellectual functioning with associated limitations in adaptive behaviour. This category is currently suspended.
Wheelchair: For all athletes with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities which require them to compete in a wheelchair. Athletes must have at least 10 per cent loss of function to their
lower limbs.
Vision-Impaired: Athletes who have a vision impairment ranging from partial vision (sufficient to be judged legally blind) to total blindness.
Les Autres: French for the others and includes competitors with a mobility impairment or other loss of physical function that does not fall strictly under one of the other five categories. Dwarfism, multiple sclerosis or birth deformities of the limbs such as that caused by thalidomide are examples of this.
The categories apply for both summer and winter paralympics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralympics