Winter Paralympics are held in a separate year to Summer Paralympics for first time

In 1994, the Winter Paralympics were staged in Lillehammer, Norway only two years after the Tignes-Albertville 1992 Winter Paralympics.  In breaking from the usual four-year cycle the Winter Paralympics and Winter Olympics were held in a different year from their summer counterparts for the first time ever.  After these Games, the Winter Paralympics and Olympics returned to their usual four-year cycle so they have never been staged in the same year as the Summer Paralympics or Olympics since.

The decision to move the date of the Games was due to an agreement of cooperation between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).  In fact, the Lillehammer 1994 Paralympics were actually the first Paralympic Games (Winter or Summer) to be organised by the IPC who had been formed in 1989.  Every previous Olympic and Paralympic Games had been organised by the IOC.

The Lillehammer 1994 Paralympic Winter Games saw the first inclusion of ice-sledge hockey which became an immediate crowd favorite.

The Games were represented by an emblem depicting the sun people. This image portrayed power, vitality, strength and energy, all of which are characteristics of the athletes who took part.

Norway claimed top spot on the medals table with 64 medals, 29 of which were gold. Germany finished the Games in second place while the USA took the third spot.

Date Games were held: March 10 - 19

Number of nations represented: 31

Number of competitors: 512

Number of medals awarded: 399

Winter Paralympics and Winter Olympics staged in same venue for the first time

Following the successful staging in the same venue of the Summer Paralympics and the Summer Olympics for the first time at the Seoul 1988 Games, the Winter Paralympics and Winter Olympics followed suit by being staged in 1992 in Tignes-Albertville in France.  Since these Winter Games, the Winter Paralympics and the Winter Olympics have been staged at the same destination and the same venue (though not at the same time due to logistics).

For the first time in the history of the Winter Paralympics, demonstration events in Alpine and Nordic Skiing for athletes with an intellectual disability and Biathlon for athletes with a visual impairment were held.

The official mascot at the Games was Alpy - designed by Vincent Thiebaut – who represented the summit of the Grande Motte mountain in Tignes.  Alpy was shown on a mono-ski to demonstrate athleticism and the colours of white, green and blue were used to represent purity/snow, hope/nature and discipline/the lake.

Of the 365 competitors at the Tignes-Albertville 1992 Winter Paralympics only 77 were women.

The medal table at the Games was topped for the first time by the USA who claimed 45 medals, 20 of which were gold.  Germany finished the medal table in second place while a Unified Team (the name used for the sports team of the former Soviet Union excluding the Baltic states) took third place.

The Tignes-Albertville 1992 Games also proved to be the last Games were the Winter Paralympics and Olympics were held in the same year as their Summer counterparts.

Date Games were held: March 21- April 1

Number of nations represented: 24

Number of competitors: 365

Number of medals awarded: 235

Winter Paralympics hosted by Innsbruck for the second consecutive Games

The fourth Winter Paralympic Games were held in Innsbruck, Austria for the second time in four years and turned out to be the last Winter Paralympics to be held in a separate location from the Winter Olympics.

Originally the 1988 Winter Paralympics were set to be held in Calgary, the same venue as the 1988 Winter Olympics.  Due to financial and recruiting difficulties these plans never materialised so the Games returned to Innsbruck.

The 1988 Winter Paralympic Games saw the USSR compete for the first time while sit-skiing was introduced as a new event in both the Alpine and Nordic skiing competitions.  Other new parasports to be introduced to the Winter Paralympic Games in Innsbruck were biathlon and ice-sledge speed racing.

Norway topped the medal table by taking 60 medals, 25 of which were gold ahead of hosts Austria while West Germany claimed third place on the overall medal table.

Date Games were held: January 13-21

Number of nations represented: 22

Number of competitors: 397

Number of medals awarded: 297

Winter Paralympics leave Scandinavia for the first time

The third Winter Paralympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria saw the Games held outside Scandinavia for the first time since their creation in Örnsköldsvik eight years before.

The 1984 Winter Olympics were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia but the Innsbruck 1984 Winter Paralympics were hugely successful in their own right.

Three parasports were contested at the Innsbruck 1984 Games. These were: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and ice-sledge speed racing, which had been a deomnstration sport only at the two previous Winter Paralympics.

Austria topped the medal table in front of their home supporters by taking 70 medals, 34 of which were gold. Finland finished a distant second with 34 medals and 19 gold while Norway were third with 41 medals, including 15 gold.

The Games also saw Great Britain win their first ever Winter Paralympic medals.  They claimed a total of ten medals with four silver and six bronze to finish a respectable 12th in the overall medal table.

Date Games were held: January 14-20

Number of nations represented: 21

Number of competitors: 450+

Number of medals awarded: 315

Winter Paralympics head to Norway

Following the success of the first ever Winter Paralympic Games in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden four years earlier, Gelio in Norway was awarded the right to host the second Winter Paralympics in 1980.

While the 1980 Winter Olympics was held in Lake Placid, Geilo prove a more than adequate host for the 1980 Winter Paralympics which saw all classes with locomotor disabilities able to participate at the Games for the first time.

At the Geilo 1980 Games, there were still only two competitive parasports available to the athletes: Alpine and Nordic skiing (as in Örnsköldsvik four years before).  The Games also saw a demonstration (and therefore non medal event) in sledge downhill racing.

To the delight of the home supporters Norway claimed 54 medals with 23 gold and finished top of the medals table.  Finland finished second making it a Scandinavian top two while Austria took third place.

Date Games were held: February 1-7

Number of nations represented: 18

Number of competitors: 350+

Number of medals awarded: 168

Sweden plays host to the first ever Winter Paralympics

Sixteen years after the first official Summer Paralympic Games took place in Rome in 1960, a decision was taken for disability athletes to also compete at a winter Games.

The Games were held in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden and were a separate event to the able-bodied Olympics which were held in Innsbruck, Austria.

There were just two competitive events at these Games - Alpine and Nordic skiing for amputee athletes and visually impaired athletes.   These were the only disabilities competing.  There was also a demonstration event in ice-sledge racing though medals were not awarded.

The Games were a success for Winter Paralympic sport and West Germany finished at the top of the medals table with 28 medals, of which ten were gold.  Switzerland finished second with ten gold medals while Finland claimed third with eight gold medals.

Date Games were held: February 21-28

Number of nations represented: 16

Number of competitors: 250+

Number of medals awarded: 141

Beijing host the biggest Paralympic Games of all time

The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games took place in the majestic Beijing National Stadium (colloquially referred to as the "Bird's Nest" due to its appearance) on 6th September 2008.

The Bird's Nest was built specifically for the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics at a cost of $423 million.  Throughout the Paralympic Games, the capacity of the stadium was 91,000 (though it has since been reduced to 80,000) and it was sold out for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Over 4,200 athletes from 148 countries took part in the Beijing Paralympics meaning that the 2008 Games boasted the largest ever number of nations at the Paralympics (twelve more than in Athens).  Several countries competed in the Paralympics for the first time.  The slogan for the 2008 Paralympics was the same as the 2008 Summer Olympics: "One World, One Dream".

One of the standout performers of the Games was 13 year-old Eleanor Simmonds of Great Britain.  Simmonds became the youngest ever individual Paralympic gold medalist when she won the 100m freestyle S6 event in swimming on 8 September on the second day of the Games.

Another star of the Games was the famous Oscar Pistorius of South Africa, also known as the "blade runner" due to the appearance of his prosthetic legs.  Pistorius claimed three gold medals at the Games after he was banned from competing at the 2008 Summer Olympic when his legs were considered to give him an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes.

China fielded more athletes than any other country and the hosts dominated the medal table from start to finish.  China won a phenomenal 89 gold medals, more than double the 42 gold medals second placed Great Britain won.  The United States finished in third with 36 gold medals.

At the spectacular Closing Ceremony on 17th September, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Philip Craven declared the Games "the greatest Paralympic Games ever".

Date Games were held: September 6-17

Number of nations represented: 148

Number of competitors: 4,200 +

Number of medals awarded: 1,431

Rating records soar as the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games are watched around the world

The Athens 2004 Paralympic Games got underway on 17th September with a spectacular Opening Ceremony at the Olympic stadium.  During the Games, 73 of the 136 competing nations won at least one medal and several of these countries secured their first medal in Paralympic Games history.  Seventeen countries were in fact competing in their first Paralympics ever.

The Paralympic Village in Athens housed 3,806 athletes during the Games.  A total of 1,160 women (31% of the total number of athletes) competed at the Games with female athletes competing in Judo and Volleyball for the first time.  An extremely high standard of sporting performance in 19 sports resulted in 304 new world records and 448 new Paralympic records.

China topped the medal table in Athens by taking 63 gold medals. Great Britain finished second with 35 gold medals while Canada was third with 28 gold medals.

Perhaps the most outstanding athlete at the Athens 2004 Games was swimmer Japanese Mayumi Narita who claimed an astonishing seven gold medals and one bronze.  Canadian wheelchair athlete Chantal Peticlerc also had a fantastic Games by winning five gold medals in the 100 metre, 200 metre, 400 metre, 800 metre and 1,500 metre races while setting three world records.

A total of 3,103 media representatives (including more than 68 broadcasters) were present in Athens to cover the Games while a total of 617 hours were broadcast in 25 countries.

Although the live broadcast of the Opening Ceremony coincided with the middle of the night in some parts of the world, around 10 million Chinese and 8 million Japanese enjoyed the event live.  Daily highlights of the Games attracted millions of European viewers and in Great Britain the BBC gained approximately 2 million viewers for their first Sunday Paralympic program.  This development confirmed that there has been a strong growth in media interest for the Paralympic Games since the Sydney 2000 Paralympics.

The Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as many sport events were sold out and the Games were supported by 8,863 volunteers who were handpicked from some 160,000 personal applications.

At the Closing Ceremony in the Olympic Stadium, the new logo of the IPC was unveiled to the world as the Paralympic flag with the three "agitos" was raised in the stadium.  IPC President Philip Craven handed over the Paralympic flag with the new IPC symbol to the Vice-Mayor of Beijing, Mr. Liu Jingmin.

Date Games were held: September 17-28

Number of nations represented: 136

Number of competitors: 3,806

Number of medals awarded: 1,567

Fantastic organisation and outstanding competition sees Sydney host the best Paralympic Games in the history of the competition

For the first time in the history of the Paralympics, the organisers of the Sydney 2000 Games insisted on the principle that all core services for the Paralympic Games be delivered by the same staff and same team that would deliver services for the Olympic Games.

The move was an undoubted success as the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee (SPOC) and the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) capitalized on shared departments and delivered on their promise to create the best possible conditions for elite athletes with a disability.

For the first time ever, Paralympic and Olympic athletes lived in the same village.  They enjoyed the same catering services, medical care and facilities while ticketing, technology and transport systems for the Olympics were seamlessly extended to the Paralympics.

The Opening Ceremony of the XI Paralympic Games took place at Stadium Australia (now known as the ANZ Stadium) on 18th October with a blaze of color and festivity.  A record number of 122 countries (or 123 delegations including independent athletes from East Timor) participated at the Sydney Paralympics, making this the largest Games (at the time) in Paralympic history.

During the Games, the Paralympic Village housed 6,943 people. There were 3,824 athletes, 2,315 team officials and 804 technical officials.  Sporting performances were of the highest standard the Games had ever witnessed as over 300 world and Paralympic records were broken.

British wheelchair athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson was one of the standout performers of the Games.  Thompson crowned a distinguished career as she took four gold medals in the 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres and 800 metres in her disability category.

Another star performer was Jason Wening, a double below-the-knee amputee swimmer from the United States who won his third consecutive gold medal in the 400m freestyle, breaking his own world record in the process.  Wening has not been beaten in the 400m in his category since 1991, when he first broke the world record.

Sydney 2000 marked the first-time participation of female athletes in power lifting, and it was a debut to remember.  Seven world records tumbled within the space of two hours.  Jianxin Bian of China and Fatma Omar of Egypt took the first two gold medals in women's power lifting.

To the delight of the home crowd, host Australia eventually topped the medal table with 63 gold medals. Great Britain was second with 41 gold medals and Spain took third place with 39 gold medals.

From an organisational view point, the Sydney Paralympics could not have been better.  A record number of around 1.2 million tickets were sold and over 2,300 media representatives were on-site to cover the Games.  The Sydney 2000 Games also set a new precedent in webcasting as the public were able to watch some 100 hours of Paralympic competitions on the Internet.  Users across 103 countries logged in to the official Games website which attracted an estimated 300 million hits during Games.

Date Games were held: October 18-29

Number of nations represented: 127

Number of competitors: 3,846

Number of medals awarded: 1,657

Atlanta see the Paralympics attract corporate sponsorship for the first time

The Paralympics Games in Atlanta were a great improvement on its predecessors in terms of levels of participation and performance.

In order to ensure more dynamic growth and improvement within each sport event at the Games, the Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee (APOC), together with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), developed a system based on three key components: quality, quantity and universality.

For the first time at a Paralympic Games, athletes with an intellectual disability took part along with athletes with spinal cord disabilities, cerebral palsy, amputations & les autres and visual impairments.

Attendance for the Atlanta 1996 Games was high throughout and a total of 388,373 spectators were recorded across all the sporting events.  Around 66,257 people attended the Opening Ceremony at the Centennial Olympic Stadium while 57,640 spectators turned up for the closing ceremony in the same venue.  2,088 media representatives were accredited at the Games including 721 journalists from the written press, 806 from the electronic media, and 114 photographers.

There were many outstanding performances at the Games and perhaps the standout athlete was Australia's Louise Sauvage.  Sauvage dominated the women's wheelchair racing events, taking home four gold medals in the 400 metres, 800 metres, 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres.

In total, the Games saw 269 new world records set illustrating just how high the standard at Atlanta was.

The home nation topped the medal table with 157 medals, 46 of which were gold.  Next were Australia with 42 gold medals and Germany were in third (who just beat fourth placed Great Britain) with 40 gold medals.

The 1996 Atlanta Paralympics were also the first to attract worldwide corporate sponsorship and the Games also showcased a Cultural Pyramid, featuring the works of artists with disabilities across many creative disciplines.  The Cultural Pyramid was initiated to widen the appeal and impact of the Games and to draw parallels between excellence in sport and in the arts.

Date Games were held: August 16-25

Number of nations represented: 104

Number of competitors: 3,259

Number of medals awarded: 1,577

Catalan Capital sets elite standard for Paralympic Games

The Barcelona 1992 Games was the biggest showcase of elite disability sport the world had witnessed.  However, before the Paralympics began, the Organising Committee of the Barcelona Olympic Games (COOB) were worried that there were too many participants at the Games and that would reduce the standard (and therefore the credibility) of the competition.

Consequently, the Organizing Committee reduced the number of athletes by setting strict rules and regulations.  Although the new rules caused controversy, they simplified and raised the level of competition while allowing athletes with different disabilities to participate in the same events.

The Opening Ceremony took place in the Montjuic Olympic Stadium and was attended by 65,000 spectators.  The Ceremony was also watched by millions of television viewers around the world and attended by some extremely high profile figures including Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain and Mayor Pasquel Maragall, a man highly supportive of the Paralympic Games.

Over 1.5 million spectators attended various events and millions more watched the Games daily on television.  The Barcelona Paralympics were of an extremely high standard and of the 487 events that took place, 279 world records were set.

Visually impaired swimmer Trischa Zorn of the USA was perhaps the standout performer at the Games taking an impressive 10 gold and two silver medals (adding to the 12 gold medals she had won at the Seoul Games four years earlier).   Zorn's medal haul helped USA top the medal table in Beijing.  Germany were relegated into second place with Great Britain in third.

The Games were undoubtedly a huge success for the Paralympic movement and the Closing Ceremony in the Olympic Stadium brought a spectacular end to one of the finest Games in the history of the Paralympics.

Shortly after the 1992 Barcelona Paralympic Games, Madrid hosted an ICC-auspiced Paralympic Games for athletes with an intellectual disability.

Date Games were held: September 3-14

Number of nations represented: 82

Number of competitors: 3,020

Number of medals awarded: 1,503

The Paralympic Games and the Olympic Games finally unite in one venue

Perhaps the greatest breakthrough for the Paralympic movement came in Seoul as for the first time in the history of the Paralympic Games, the Seoul 1988 Games saw Paralympic participants use the same venue and facilities used by participants of the Olympic Games.

The 1988 Paralympics was therefore the largest and most well-facilitated Games the event had witnessed.  The Seoul Paralympic Games gave Paralympic athletes the opportunity to compete in modern, world class facilities previously reserved for the Olympic Games.

Although the Seoul Paralympic Organizing Committee (SPOC) had only a tangential relationship with the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC), the relationship was substantial enough to recruit and train many of the sports and technical officials for the Paralympic Games as well.

The Paralympic village was just 4 kilometres from the Olympic stadium and athletes, coaches, trainers and team supporters were housed in a purpose-built village.  Although there was much disappointment that around 156 events for athletes with serious disabilities could not take place due to lack of participants, it was a sign that the Paralympic Games would gain credibility as elite athletic standards were implemented.

The Opening Ceremony was held at the Olympic stadium for the first time before a crowd of 75,000 and the new Paralympic flag was presented to the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) President, Dr. Jens Bromann.

The 1988 Games showed a marked rise in athletic performance, with many multiple gold medal winners in various sports and events.  One of the most dominant athletes at the Games was Trischa Zorn of the USA.  Zorn was a visually impaired swimmer in class B2 and won a total of 12 gold medals, including 10 individual titles and two relays. Zorn also set an unbelivable nine world records in the process.

The Closing Ceremony took place on 24th October to loud cheers from the capacity crowd.  The Seoul 1988 Paralympics were perhaps the most revolutionary Paralympics of all time as they were the first Games where Paralympics were truly considered an equal of the Olympic Games.  From Seoul 1988 onwards, the Paralympics has been hosted in the same venue as the Olympics.

Date Games were held: October 15-24

Number of nations represented: 61

Number of competitors: 3,053

Number of medals awarded: 2,173

Paralympics are held in two different locations for the only time in the history of the Games

In 1984 the four disability groups (amputee and les autres, cerebral palsy, visually impaired and wheelchair) were scheduled to compete at the Paralympics in the USA as the city of Los Angeles was set to host the 1984 Olympics.  However, the independent sports organisations for athletes with a disability were voluntary organisations that had no formal relations with the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) and only a tenuous relationship with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

In 1980, the American National Wheelchair Athletic Association (NWAA), an affiliated organisation to the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), announced that it would hold its own Games for wheelchair athletes at a separate venue.  As a result, the other three non-wheelchair disability groups combined their efforts and chose New York as their Games venue.  Amputee and les autres athletes, cerebral palsy athletes and visually impaired athletes competed in New York while athletes with spinal cord disabilities competed on the other side of the Atlantic in Stoke Mandeville.

Funding for the New York Games came from a combination of private and governmental sources, with the larger parts donated by the US Federal Government through its US Information Agency.

Media coverage of the New York Games was the most extensive in the history of disabled sport.  The major US television networks and newspapers were present, as well as BBC TV, Dutch TV, West German TV and Swedish radio and TV.  US President Ronald Reagan officially opened the Games at the Opening Ceremony in Mitchel Park.  In the course of the Games, more than 80,000 spectators cheered on the athletes across a total of 13 events.

The Games in Stoke Mandeville were held after events in New York had reached a conclusion.  The British Paraplegic Sports Society (BPSS) organised the Games at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium.  The Opening Ceremony were presided by HRH Prince Charles, who officially opened the Games.  A crowd of 3,000 cheered on the teams in the wheel-past.  For the first time ever, a wheelchair marathon was held at the Paralympics.

Though the 1984 Games were a success organisers agreed that the Games should be held at the same venue in the future due to the fact that the success of the Paralympics calls for unified representation and participation.

The four international federations: the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CP-ISRA), the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA), the International Sport Organization for the Disabled (ISOD), and the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF) came together to form the International Coordinating Committee of World Organizations for the Disabled (ICC).   The ICC was from then onwards to serve as the governing body for the Paralympic Games.

Date Games were held: July 22-August 1 (Stoke Mandeville) June 17-30 (New York)

Number of nations represented: 41 (SM) 45 (NY)

Number of competitors: 1,100 (SM) 1,800 (NY)

Number of medals awarded: 2,767 (SM & NY)

1980 Games see disability groups represented by international sports federations for the first time.

Although it was expected that the 1980 Paralympic Games would be held in Moscow, the same country and city that were hosting the Olympic Games, these plans never materialised.

The national federations of Denmark, South Africa and the Netherlands offered to host the Games and the Netherlands, through the Dutch Sports Association for the Disabled, were eventually awarded the bid.  Amongst growing unrest, South Africa were banned from the Games due to opposition against its apartheid policies

A public TV program called Telebingo was created in 1976 to help raise funds to organise the Games while the Dutch government assisted mainly with military support, such as the use of army barracks to house athletes and officials.

The Opening Ceremony was attended by a 12,000 strong crowd at the Papendal stadium.  Of the 1,973 athletes that participated in the Games, 1,055 were wheelchair athletes, 452 were amputee athletes, 341 were visually impaired athletes and 125 were cerebral palsy athletes, who were participating for the first time.

One of the top athletes at the Arnhem 1980 Games was Neroli Fairhall of New Zealand.  Fairhall, who won the wheelchair women's doubles Archery competition, astonishingly went on to compete at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics and finished an impressive 35th out of more than 56 competitors.

The Arnhem 1980 Paralympics successfully consolidated the sports programmes of the four major disability groups (amputee and les autres, cerebral palsy, visually impaired and wheelchair).  Each group was also represented by their international sport federations, in one venue for the first time.

The Games also inspired the creation of the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) in which each federation was represented.  By the end of 1989, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was to emerge as the governing body of the Paralympic Games.

Date Games were held: June 21-30

Number of nations represented: 42

Number of competitors: 1,973

Number of medals awarded: 1,610

Toronto sees huge increase in number of disability groups and Paralympic sports

In 1976 Canada hosted both the Paralympics Games and the Olympic Games. While the Olympics were held in the city of Montreal, Toronto hosted the Paralympics.

The Games faced several boycotts due to the participation of South Africa whose policy of apartheid was widely criticised.  For the first time, 261 amputees and 187 visually impaired athletes were included in the program as well as several new events.

The 1976 Games were far more difficult to organise than the Paralympics that had preceded them because more sport classifications were involved than ever before.

Also, the accommodation of athletes with differing disabilities posed new challenges for the host city.  As suitable lodging could not be arranged in the immediate area of the events, school buses were hired and loading docks were constructed to transport the athletes and staff from the event venues to their accommodation.

Disability groups were housed separately, wheelchair athletes stayed at York University and other groups stayed at the University of Toronto and the Institute for the Blind.

The Toronto 1976 Games were the first Paralympics to be broadcast daily to over 600,000 viewers in the Southern Ontario area.  The Games proved very popular with the people of Toronto and around 24,000 spectators attended the Opening Ceremony at the Woodbine Race Track.

With new disability groups, a variety of new events were introduced to the Paralympic Games.  In wheelchair racing, new distances of 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m were added.  Rifle Shooting became a medal event (following demonstrations at previous International Stoke Mandeville Games) and Goalball (a demonstration event at the 1972 Paralympics in Heidelberg), was also featured as a medal event.

Although the USA finished at the top of the medal table, the Netherlands, who finished second in the medal table, dominated the swimming by taking an astonishing 36 gold medals in the sport.

The Closing Ceremony at the Centennial Park Stadium saw a crowd of around 5,000 attend and bought a fitting end to a colourful and successful nine-day event.

Date Games were held: August 3-11

Number of nations represented: 32

Number of competitors: 1,657

Number of medals awarded: 1,172