1990s Paralympic Summer Games Infographic

Click to zoom into a pdf of the Infographic. Statistics are from the IPC website

1990s Paralympic Winter Games Infographic

Click to zoom into a pdf of the Infographic. Statistics are from the IPC website

Following the establishment of the International Paralympic Committee in late 1989, the new organisation took over the responsibility of co-ordinating Paralympic Games with the host organising committees from the number of organisations that previously did this work (this included the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation and other such bodies).

Throughout the decade, the Paralympic Games were twinned with their Olympic counterparts and the host city continued to be the same: Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996.

Barcelona 1992 Paralympic Summer Games

The previous games at Seoul in 1988 had been seen as a major step forward for the Paralympics in terms of profile, audiences, seriousness and spectacle. Yet the 1992 games at Barcelona managed to take this process a stage further. 3,001 athletes from 83 countries, competed in 431 events in 16 sports.  The GB team of 156 men and 52 women won a total of 40 Gold, 47 Silver and 41 Bronze medals. Read more about the Barcelona 1992 Summer Paralympic Games here

Tignes-Albertville 1992 Paralympic Winter Games

This was the first winter Paralympics to be celebrated concurrently with the Olympics, hosted in the same city or region. Demonstration events in Alpine and Nordic skiing for athletes with an intellectual impairment took place for the first time. 365 athletes from 24 countries, competed in 3 sports.  The Great Britain team of 14 men and 1 women won a total of 2 silver and 4 bronze medals. Read more about the Tignes-Albertville 1992 Winter Paralympic Games here

Lillehammer 1994 Paralympic Winter Games

These Games were held only two years after the 1992 Tignes-Albertville Winter Paralympics as the scheduling was changed so that the Winter Games took place two years after the Summer Paralympic and Olympic Games. 469 athletes from 31 countries, competed in 5 sports.  The GB team of 23 men won 5 Bronze medals. Read more about the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Paralympic Games here

Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Summer Games

The 1996 games were the first to attract worldwide corporate sponsorship. 3,253 athletes from 104 countries, competed in 519 events in 19 sports.  The GB team of 165 men and 83 women won a total of 122 medals (39 gold, 42 silver and 41 bronze) and finished fourth in the medals table. Read more about the Atlanta 1996 Summer Paralympic Games here

Nagano 1998 Paralympic Winter Games

The 7th Winter Paralympics were held in Nagano, Japan. They were the first Paralympic Winter Games to be held outside Europe. 562 athletes from 31 countries, competed in 5 sports.  The GB team of 20 men and 1 woman won no medals. Read more about the Nagano 1998 Winter Paralympic Games here

Memories from the 1990s

Rainer Kuschall switching from playing table tennis to wheelchair racing.

Ian Rose talks about blind Judo.

Peter Norfolk talks about wheelchair tennis.

Simon Jackson and how he got into Judo.

Sir Philip Craven, Tara Flood, Chris Holmes and Jayant Mistry talk about Barcelona 1992 Paralympics

Ernie Guild talks about his participation at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996