The Paralympic Games are elite sport events for athletes from different disability groups. They clearly emphasise, however, the participants' athletic achievements, not their disability. The movement has grown dramatically since its early days. The number of athletes participating in the Summer Paralympic Games has increased from 400 athletes in Rome in 1960 to 3,806 athletes from 136 countries in Athens in 2004.

HISTORY

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In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports competition involving World War II veterans with a spinal cord-related injury in Stoke Mandeville, England. Four years later, competitors from Holland joined the Games, and the international movement, now known as the Paralympics, was born. Olympic-style games for athletes with a disability were organised for the first time in Rome in 1960. In Toronto in 1976, other disability groups were added and the idea of merging together different disability groups for international sports competitions was born. In the same year, the first Paralympic Winter Games took place in Sweden.

PARALYMPIC GAMES

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The Paralympic Games have always been held in the same year as the Olympic Games. Since the 1988 Seoul Summer Games and the 1992 Albertville Winter Games, they have also taken place at the same venues as the Olympic Games. On 19 June 2001, an agreement was signed between the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee aiming to secure the organisation of the Paralympic Games. The agreement reaffirmed that the Paralympic Games, from 2008 on, will always take place shortly after the Olympic Games, using the same sporting venues and facilities.

Since the Salt Lake 2002 Games, one organising committee is responsible for hosting both the Olympic and the Paralympic Games. Athletes from both Games live in the same Village and enjoy the same catering services, medical care and facilities. Ticketing, technology and transport systems for the Olympic Games are seamlessly extended to the Paralympics.

Immediately following the end of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, important transformations took place to prepare for the 2002 Winter Paralympics, held from 7 to 16 March 2002. Four hundred and sixteen athletes from 36 nations competed in Alpine and Nordic Skiing and Ice Sledge Hockey at the Salt Lake City Paralympics.

The last Paralympic Summer Games were held in Athens, Greece, from 17 to 28 September 2004. A total of 3806 athletes from 136 countries competed in 19 sports in the state of the art venues at the 2004 Paralympics.

The Italian city of Turin hosted the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games from 10-19 March 2006. Approximately 477 athletes from more than 39 countries took part in the Torino 2006 Paralympic Games. A new sport made its debut in Torino: Wheelchair Curling, bringing the total number of sports to be contested to four: Alpine Skiing, Ice Sledge Hockey, Nordic Skiing and Wheelchair Curling.

The next Summer Paralympics in 2008 will be held in Beijing, China, with the 2010 Winter Paralympics being staged from 12 to 21 March (2010) in Canada.

The Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games is to take place in Vancouver and all competitions in Whistler. Some 1,700 athletes and team officials from more than 40 countries are expected to participate.