(ATR) The Paralympic Movement celebrates its 70th anniversary by returning to the place where it all began.
The first wheelchair sports competition was organized by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville, the home of Britain’s National Spinal Injuries Centre.
The Stoke Mandeville Games held on July 29, 1948 involved 16 injured servicemen and women taking part in an archery competition. By 1960, when the event became known as the Paralympic Games, 400 athletes from 23 countries were involved.
Dignitaries, former and current athletes as well as members of the Guttmann family gathered at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury, Great Britain on Sunday for a commemoration.
"Seventy years ago it was a few paraplegics from the Spinal Unit doing some archery, and in two years’ time there will be the Paralympics in Japan, with 5,000 competitors from all over the world. It’s amazing," Eva Loeffler, daughter of Ludwig Guttmann, was quoted by the IPC.
The day was organized by WheelPower (formerly the British Wheelchair Sports Foundation) and the National Spinal Injuries Centre.
Eight spinal injury patients were given the chance to try their hand at archery, the sport that started it all, culminating in a competition in the afternoon.
Click here for a photo gallery from the day's events.
Written by Gerard Farek
For general comments or questions,click here.
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
