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  2. Games

Games

On the 29th July 1948, the day the Olympic Games opened in London, Dr Ludwig Guttmann staged the Stoke Mandeville Games, on the hospital grounds. Two teams of former servicemen and women competed in wheelchair archery as part of their rehabilitation programme. Little did Guttmann know the history that would follow and that this first competition would form the birth of the Paralympic Games as we know them today. 

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1940s: The beginning

1940s: The beginning

On 29th July 1948, Guttmann organised an archery demonstration to coincide with the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games. Read more

Published: 10th January, 2018

Updated: 30th November, 2020

Author: Beth Faulkner

1950s: The first international Games

1950s: The first international Games

Attended by a growing number of national teams from other countries, the International Games took place in late summer. Read more

Published: 9th January, 2018

Updated: 12th May, 2022

Author: Beth Faulkner

1960s: Part of the Olympics

1960s: Part of the Olympics

In Rome 1960 the International Games were held for the first time in the Olympics venue immediately after the Olympic Games. They are now seen as the first “Paralympic Games” Read more

Published: 8th January, 2018

Updated: 7th September, 2020

Author: Beth Faulkner

1970s: Open to all disabilities

1970s: Open to all disabilities

At the 1976 Toronto Games athletes who were blind or partially sighted and amputees were combined with wheelchair based athletes for the first time. Read more

Published: 7th January, 2018

Updated: 21st April, 2021

Author: Beth Faulkner

1980s: Return to Stoke Mandeville

1980s: Return to Stoke Mandeville

Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann passed away in 1980 and relations improved between the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation and the International Olympic Committee. Read more

Published: 6th January, 2018

Updated: 14th November, 2019

Author: Beth Faulkner

1990s: The IPC take charge

1990s: The IPC take charge

The newly established IPC took over the responsibility of co-ordinating the Paralympic Games and thereafter were twinned with their Olympic counterparts. Read more

Published: 5th January, 2018

Updated: 7th September, 2020

Author: Beth Faulkner

2000s: Games of equal splendour

2000s: Games of equal splendour

The 2008 Paralympics at Beijing were famously described by the Chinese as 'a Games of equal splendour'. Read more

Published: 4th January, 2018

Updated: 14th June, 2021

Author: Beth Faulkner

2010s: To London and beyond

2010s: To London and beyond

The parity between the Olympics and Paralympics at London 2012 surpassed all other games. Read more

Published: 3rd January, 2018

Updated: 16th February, 2022

Author: Beth Faulkner

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