Date Published 04 September 2024
PARIS 2024 AND A LITTLE HISTORY
The Paralympics have begun with the opening ceremony taking place in Paris on the 28th August. The ceremony featured the usual mix of music, movement and performers with disabilities. It was watched by an estimated 50,000 people, a testament to the growth and popularity of the Games.
Paris stages the summer Paralympics Games for the first time in 2024. It is the second time France will have played host after staging the 1992 Winter Games which took place in Tignes and Albertville.
About 4,400 athletes from around the world will take part in 22 sports, cheered on by crowds again after the rescheduled Tokyo Games in 2021 that were held behind closed doors. A total of 549 gold medals will be up for grabs.
The final day on Sunday 8th September will feature medal events in wheelchair basketball, Para-powerlifting, Para-canoe and wheelchair marathons culminating with the closing ceremony which will take place at the Stade de France.
The history of the Paralympics dates back to 29th July 1948 where on the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games. Sir Ludwig Guttman, a neurologist working with World War II veterans at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury organised the first competition for wheelchair athletes which he named the Stoke Mandeville Games, a milestone in Paralympic history with 16 injured servicemen and women taking part.
The Stoke Mandeville Games later became the Paralympic Games and first took place in Rome, Italy in 1960 this time featuring 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since then, the Games have taken place every four years.
