Paralympic GamesThe Paralympic Games are an official equivalent of the Olympics for athletes with physical disabilities. This includes mobility disabilities, amputees, visual disabilities and those with Cerebral Palsy. It is different from the Special Olympics. 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 which became the Paralympic Games. The first Winter Paralympics were held in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden in 1976. The Games are now always held alongside the Olympic Games as of June 19, 2001 when an agreement was signed between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) securing this practice for the future. The IPC logo denotes the Tae-Geuks,The three Tae-Geuks symbolised the most significant components of the human being: Mind, Body, Spirit , On the Athens Closing Cerimonies on 28th September 2004 replaced the Tae-Geuks a new logo consisted on three Agitos.The new Paralympic logo consists of three elements in red, blue and green—the three colours that are most widely represented in national flags around the world .New IPC motto is the ´´Spirit in Motion´´.When Athens is handing over the flag to Beijing, a flag with the new logo will be used. The transition will be completed and from that day on, the old logo will no longer be used. The Paralympic Games are going to be held in Athens, Greece from 17th to 28th September 2004. These will be the 12th Paralympic Summer Games. Four thousand athletes will participate, representing 145 countries in nineteen sports. A record number of broadcasters will be present to cover the Athens 2004 Paralympics [1] (http://www.paralympic.org/release/Main_Sections_Menu/Media/Press_Releases/2004_09_03_a.html), though the events will not be broadcast in the United States [2] (http://www.usparalympics.org/B6370D20F2ED4D5482BA8D7F43FFF428_77C1EF19C8E242EE9F33E56C9E865108.htm). Previous Paralympics have also suffered from limited broadcast and sponsorship. [3] (http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id479/pg1/) The name derives from the Greek "para" ("beside" or "alongside"), and has nothing do do with paralysis or paraplegia.
Summer Games
Winter Games
Summer Sports
Winter Sports
External links
de:Paralympics fr:Jeux paralympiques [[el:Παραολυμπιακοί_Αγώνες]] eo:Special-Olimpiko [[he:אולימפיאדת הנכים]] it:Paraolimpiadi ja:パラリンピック ko:패럴림픽 nl:Paralympische_Spelen pl:Olimpiada_Specjalna Categories: Olympics | Multi-sport events | Paralympics |
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