The Paralympics Games are different type of sports events conducted for athletes with physical and visual disabilities. The physical imbalanced athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy are included in the game. The Paralympics Games take place every four years, subsequent to the Olympic Games. The game is governed by the International Paralympics Committee (IPC). This game has sometimes been confused with the Special Olympics World Games meant only for people with intellectual disabilities. Ancient Olympic Games will describe you in detail about the Paralympic Games in this page. We also give information about other international games and sports.
In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann had conducted a sports competition concerning about World War II veterans with having a spinal cord injury in Stoke Mandeville, England. Just after four years later, various competitors from the Netherlands joined the games and there took birth an international movement. Olympic disability games were held for the first time in Rome in 1960 which is now called Paralympics. During the year 1976, other disability groups joined together in Toronto and the initiative of merging together different disability groups for international sport competitions was taken. In the same year, the first Winter Games of Paralympics were held in Sweden.
These days, the Paralympics has attained the crown of the best sport events for athletes from six different disability groups. Since the first day of its inauguration, the game has attained great success. The number of participants has increased in the Summer Paralympics Games from 400 athletes from 23 countries in Rome in 1960 to 3806 athletes from 136 countries in Athens in 2004.
The Paralympics Games are organized in the same year as the Olympic Games. On 19th June 2001, a contract was signed between IOC and IPC to protect this practice for the forthcoming games. From the next 2012 bid process onwards, the host city that will be chosen to host the Olympic Games will be indebted to host the Paralympics.