Paralympics games

The concept for the Paralympic Games was devised by Sir Ludwig Guttmann, in 1948 to provide athletic therapy for people in wheelchairs. 

In 1952, the Games became the International Stoke Mandeville Games (ISMG) when a small team of Dutch war veterans travelled to England to compete against the British athletes.

A deliberate attempt to connect the Olympic and Paralympic Games was not made until 1960 when the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome with 400 athletes from 23 countries participating.  Athletes competed in archery, basketball, fencing, javelin, shotput and three swimming events.  Since then the Olympic and Paralympic Games have led a parallel existence, being held in the same country or city whenever possible.

Today the Paralympic Games is one of the largest events in the world, eclipsing in size the commonwealth games.  146 nations sent 3,951 athletes to compete at the 2008 BeijingParalympic Games, including 179 athletes from Australia making it the second largest sporting event after the Olympic Games.