Paralympic sports include a lot of traditional disciplines designed for people with disabilities to participate in them. These games represent the climax ending the four-year sports cycle among all athletes, as well as other participants in this movement. Paralympic sports include the most prestigious competitions for people with disabilities, and the selection for them takes place in the process of a number of regional, national and international competitions.
Olympic and Paralympic Games
In 2000, the Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Olympic and Paralympic International Committees, which enshrined the basic principles of relations. Already in 2002, it was decided to use the technology of "one application - one city." In other words, the application from the country immediately extended to Paralympic sports, and the competitions themselves were held in the same facilities with the support of a single organizing committee. At the same time, the beginning of these tournaments is carried out with an interval of two weeks.
Initially, the term “Paralympic Games” was encountered during the games in Tokyo in 1964, but this name was officially confirmed only in 1988, when the Winter Games were held in Austria, and before that they were called “Stoke Mandeville” (this name was given in honor of the place where they were held for the first time for war veterans).
Origin history
Paralympic sports have largely come about thanks to a neurosurgeon named Ludwig Guttman, who came up with this idea. In 1939, the doctor emigrated to England from Germany, where, on behalf of the British government, he opened his own Center for Spinal Injury, based at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury.
Four years after the opening, he decided to organize the first games for people suffering from injuries of the musculoskeletal system, calling them the “National Stoke Mandeville Games for Disabled People”. It is worth noting that even then they began in parallel with the opening ceremony of the 1948 Olympic Games, which were held in London at that time, and the competition itself brought together a large number of former military personnel who were injured during the hostilities. We can say that it was then that the first Paralympic sports appeared. Winter, summer and other groups appeared later, when they began to acquire a more official status.
The name itself was originally associated with the term parapledgia, which means paralysis of the lower extremities, since the first regular competitions were held precisely among people suffering from various diseases of the spine. Along with the beginning of participation in such games by athletes who had other types of injuries, it was decided to somewhat rethink this term and later treat it as “nearby, outside the Olympics”, that is, to merge the Greek preposition Para, meaning “next to”, together with the word Olympics. Such an updated interpretation should talk about holding various competitions among people with disabilities together and on an equal footing with the Olympic.
Already in 1960, the IX international annual Stoke Mandeville Games were held in Rome. In this case, the Paralympic summer sports were included in the competition program:
- wheelchair basketball;
- Athletics;
- wheelchair fencing;
- archery;
- table tennis;
- darts;
- billiards;
- swimming.
More than 400 athletes with disabilities who came from 23 countries took part in these competitions, and for the first time in history not only those people who were injured in the process of various military operations began to participate. In 1984, the IOC decided to formally grant such competitions the status of the First Games for athletes with disabilities.
In 1976, competitions began for the first time in which Paralympic sports (winter) were combined. These competitions were held in Ornskoldsvik, and the program stated only two disciplines - skiing and cross-country skiing. 250 athletes from 17 different countries decided to take part in such competitions, and people with visual disabilities as well as amputated limbs have already participated.
Union
Since 1992, athletes for whom Paralympic sports (summer and winter) were created, began to compete among themselves in the same cities in which the Olympic Games were held. With the development of the movement, various organizations gradually began to be created for athletes with different types of disabilities. Thus, Paralympic sports appeared for the visually impaired and many others. Also founded in 1960, the Committee on International Stoke-Mandeville Games subsequently turned into the so-called International Federation of Stoke Mandeville Games.
Committee work
The first General Assembly, held by international sports organizations of people with disabilities, is a major event in the history of how Paralympic sports developed. Summer and winter games began to be held under the leadership of the International Committee, which, as a non-profit international organization, began to lead this movement around the world. Its appearance was dictated by the ever-increasing need to expand national representation, as well as the creation of such a movement that could mainly focus on sports for people with different forms of disability.
Thus, these games initially set themselves the goal of rehabilitation and treatment of disabled people, and over time they turned into a full-fledged sporting event of the highest level, and as a result, we needed our own governing body. For this reason, in 1982, the ICC, the Coordinating Council of Sports Organizations for People with Various Disabilities, appeared, and the IPC, known as the International Paralympic Committee, which was fully delegated the authority of the Coordinating Council, appeared only seven years later.
Correct writing
It is worth noting the fact that the spelling of the term "para-Olympic" is recorded in the Russian Spelling Dictionary, as well as many other technical literature. Moreover, it is much more common to find another spelling - “Paralympic Games”. Sports (winter and summer) are rarely called so, since this name is not standard and is not indicated in the dictionaries, although it is actively used in official documents of modern government bodies, which is a tracing-paper from the official name from the English language, which is written as Paralympic Games .
In accordance with federal legislation, a single concept is established, which should be used in the laws of the Russian Federation, as well as all phrases that are formed on their basis. Therefore, Paralympic sports for the blind and visually impaired, as well as for other categories of athletes, are usually called that way.
In current laws, the spelling of these words is given in accordance with those rules that are established by international sports organizations, and the refusal of the original term is dictated by the fact that the use of the word "Olympic", as well as any of its derivatives for marketing or some other commercial purposes should always be consistent with the IOC, which will be rather inconvenient.
International committee
The International Paralympic Committee is a non-profit and non-governmental organization whose responsibilities include the preparation and subsequent holding of various winter and summer games, world championships and many other international competitions for people with disabilities.
The supreme body of the IPC is the General Assembly, which meets every two years, and absolutely all members of this organization take part in it. As the main consolidated document, in accordance with which the regulation of issues of the Paralympic movement is carried out, it is customary to use the IPC Code of Practice.
The Committee not only deals with the regulation of issues of existing disciplines - there are also new Paralympic sports, the list of which is constantly updated. Since 2001, Sir Philippe Craven (an Englishman), who is a member of the management team of the British Olympic Association, has been president of this organization. It is worth noting that this person is a world champion, and also twice became a two-time European champion in wheelchair basketball, and in his discipline he served as president of the International Federation for a long time.
Under the leadership of Philip Craven, the strategic goals, as well as the basic structures and systems of government in the IPC, began to be revised. Ultimately, the use of such an innovative approach made it possible to develop a whole package of proposals, as well as to use a new vision and mission of the whole movement, as a result of which the Constitution of the IPC was adopted in 2004, which remains in force today.
It is worth noting that the USSR national team first turned its attention to the Paralympic sport “Boccia” and others only in 1984, having arrived in Austria for these competitions. The team began its debut with two bronze medals won by Olga Grigorieva, who was visually impaired. In the summer competitions, Soviet athletes were able to make their debut only in the games in Seoul, which took place in 1988 - there they competed in athletics and swimming, having managed to take 55 medals with them, of which 21 were gold.
Symbolism
For the first time under the emblem in 2006, competitions were held, which included every winter Paralympic sport. Athletics, swimming and other summer disciplines began to be held under this emblem only later, but it itself remains unchanged to this day. This logo includes hemispheres of green, red and blue, which are located around the center. This symbol is intended to reflect the main role of the IPC in uniting athletes with disabilities who delight and inspire people with their achievements around the world. Today, the colors of this emblem are widely represented in various national flags of different countries of the world, and they symbolize the Body, Mind and Spirit.
The games also have a Paralympic flag on which the IPC emblem is displayed on a white background, while it can be used exclusively at official events, the conduct of which was previously authorized by the IPC.
The anthem is an orchestral work by Hymn de l'Avenir, and was written by its famous French composer named Thierry Darney back in 1996, and it was almost immediately approved by the IPC Board.
The Paralympic motto sounds like “Spirit in motion”, and it also extremely vividly and succinctly conveys the main visions of this direction - providing opportunities for any athletes with disabilities to delight and inspire the world with their achievements, regardless of the person’s origin and state of health.
Game types
Paralympic games (sports) are divided into several categories.
- Summer. They include off-season and summer Paralympic games (sports), are held with an interval of four years under the supervision of the IOC. This includes, in addition to the games already listed, and relatively young sports such as goalball, sailing and others.
- Winter. At first, it included exclusively skiing, but over time, sledge hockey and wheelchair curling were added. At the moment, winter games are held in only 5 major disciplines.
Relay race
As you know, the standard fire is lit in Olympia, and only then the relay race begins, during which it is delivered directly to the capital city of the games. Olympic and Paralympic sports are different in this respect, and here the route does not start from Olympia - the organizers themselves determine the city where this procession will begin, and the path of fire to the capital itself, of course, is always somewhat shorter.
For example, in 2014 the relay race lasted for 10 days, and at that time the torch carried 1700 people from Russia and other countries, including 35% of people with disabilities. Special attention should be paid to the fact that four thousand volunteers also took part in this relay race, and the fire was carried through 46 cities of different regions of Russia. In addition, for the first time in the process of one of the stages of this relay race, it was held in Stoke Mandeville, that is, exactly where the Paralympic Games were held for the first time, although not yet on an official basis. Starting in 2014, fire will pass through this city constantly.
A kind of biathlon
Paralympic athletes compete in twenty different summer disciplines and a total of five winter disciplines - sledge hockey, skiing, biathlon, wheelchair curling and skiing. There are practically no fundamental differences in the basic rules for holding such competitions, but there are some specific features.
Thus, the Paralympic biathlon provides a reduced distance to the target, and it is only 10 meters, while the standard biathlon provides for the location of the target 50 meters from the shooter. Also, athletes with visual impairments shoot from specialized rifles equipped with an optronic system that fires during aiming. This system provides for the use of electro-acoustic glasses, which begin to emit loud sound signals when the athlete’s sight approaches the center of the target, which allows him to better navigate to conduct accurate shots at the target.
Also in various sports, a number of other auxiliary conditions and specialized technologies are used that simplify the performance of certain actions for athletes with disabilities, therefore they cannot be compared with standard sports, although in many respects they are quite similar.
The Paralympic Games have a lot of differences from the Olympics, but, one way or another, pursue the same goals - to inspire to conquer new heights. For all people who watch these competitions, people with disabilities who have not given up are definitely a worthy role model.