Heidelberg steps in to host the Games after plans to take Paralympics to Munich fall through

Although the 1972 Paralympics were held in the same country as the 1972 Olympics, the Games did not take place in the same city.  The Olympic Games took place in Munich, while the Paralympics took place in the German city of Heidelberg.

The International Stoke Mandeville Games Committee had planned that the Games would take place in Munich following the Olympic Games, but the Munich Olympic Village was closed after the Games and converted into private apartments.  With no suitable accommodation for the Paralympic athletes the city of Heidelberg stepped in and invited the organisers to stage the Games at the University's Institute for Physical Training.

The Heidelberg Games saw the inclusion of different disability groups and exhibition events such as Goalball and the 100 Metre Sprint for the visually impaired, allowing visually impaired competitors to participate in the Games for the first time.

The Men's Wheelchair Basketball was perhaps the highlight of the Games and a capacity crowd of 4,000 watched as the United States scraped past defending champions Israel 59-58 to take the gold by a single point.

Heidelberg 1972 was a fantastic Games that saw the hosts West Germany top the medal table ahead of the USA and Great Britain.

It was at the Heidelberg Games that the idea of a 'Beer Tent' for all participants was started.  The Beer Tent, a big marquee set up at the Rehabilitation Center, became a focal point for informal evening entertainment.  This tradition was to follow in future annual International Stoke Mandeville Games and the Paralympics of 1976, 1980 and 1984.

Following the Heidelberg 1972 Games, coaches and trainers discussed the need to develop and refine the sports rules for each event.  Sub-committees were created for each sport in the International Stoke Mandeville Games.  The creation of the sub-committees led to more self-determination in the Paralympic movement, especially in the development of wheelchair sports.

Date Games were held: August 2-11

Number of nations represented: 41

Number of competitors: 1,004

Number of medals awarded: 575

The Paralympics, originally scheduled for Mexico City, go to Israel

The 1968 Paralympic Games were due to be hosted alongside the Mexico City 1968 Olympics, but the Mexican government decided against hosting the Paralympics due to technical difficulties.  The announcement was made by the Mexican government just two years prior to the Games in 1966.

Sir Ludwig Guttmann was determined to keep up the tradition of hosting the Paralympics in the same year as the Olympics and accepted the invitation of the Israeli government to host the 1968 International Stoke Mandeville Games at Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv.

The invitation from Israel was motivated by the country's desire to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Israeli independence and a crowd of 10,000 attended the Opening Ceremony at the Hebrew University stadium in Jerusalem.

The sports program in Tel Aviv was considerable larger than the programme in Tokyo four years earlier. New events such as Lawn Bowls, Women's Basketball and the 100m wheelchair race for men were introduced.

Changes were also made in the classification systems for Athletics, Basketball and Swimming and in total, there were nine events on the sports programme.  These were athletics, basketball, dart archery, fencing, lawn bowls, snooker, swimming, table tennis and weight lifting.

The Games' outstanding competitor was Roberto Marson of Italy.  Marson, who had won two gold medals in field events at the Tokyo 1964 Games, won an astonishing nine gold medals in Tel Aviv, three in field events, three in swimming and three in fencing.

Marson helped his country finish the Games in a respectable seventh place.  The USA finished with the highest number of medals.  Great Britain claimed second place ahead of hosts Israel.  In total 20 records were set within the 181 events held.

Despite the fact that Israel hosted the Games at late notice, the Tel Aviv 1968 Games were an undoubted success for the Paralympic movement.

Date Games were held: November 4-13

Number of nations represented: 29

Number of competitors: 750

Number of medals awarded: 576

Guttmann takes the Paralympic Games to Asia

Following the success of the Rome 1960 Paralympic Games, Sir Ludwig Guttmann wanted to again stage the 1964 Stoke Mandeville Games in the same venue as the Olympic Games. The 1964 Games were due to be hosted by the Japanese capital Tokyo.

Japanese authorities were also keen on the idea after seeing the success of the Rome 1960 Games and began discussions with Guttmann.  Great progress was made when Japanese specialists visited Stoke Mandeville to study rehabilitation methods and in 1962, two Japanese competitors took part in the International Stoke Mandeville Games in England.

Japanese specialists continued to visit the Games and one member of the team, Mr Kasai, Chairman of the newly organized Japanese Sports Association for the Disabled (JSAD) later became Chairman of the Japanese Organizing Committee for the 1964 Paralympic Games.

The Games was largely funded through generous donations from a variety of large organisations based in Japan.  These organizations included the National and Metropolitan Governments, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, and the Professional Baseball Association as well as some 2,000 smaller contributors.

Around 5,000 spectators attended the Opening Ceremony which was held at the Oda Field within the Olympic village and although there were fears of little media interest in the Games because of the Olympic Games that preceded them, local and national radio and television provided intense coverage.

The 1964 Tokyo Games were a huge success and saw Great Britain bring the largest contingent of athletes with a total of 70. They were closely followed by the USA who bought 66 athletes.

A significant addition to the 1964 Games was the introduction of wheelchair racing.  A 60 metre race for men and women was established.  Wheelchair racing has since become one of the most exciting Paralympic sports and has helped to raise the profile of wheelchair athletes.

The USA topped the medal table in Tokyo relegating Great Britain to second and Italy to third.

A capacity 5,000 crowd attended the Closing Ceremony in the National Gymnasium.  The Ceremony was attended by the Crown Prince and Princess, the representative of the Prime Minster of Japan, the Minster of Health and the Governor of Tokyo and by Sir Ludwig Guttmann.

Date Games were held: November 3-12

Number of nations represented: 21

Number of competitors: 375

Number of medals awarded: 418

The Paralympics are inspired by Dr Ludwig Guttmann's Stoke Mandeville Games

Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a German-born neurologist, is considered to be one of the founding fathers of organised physical activities for the disabled and is credited as the man who founded the Paralympic Games.

As director of the National Spinal Injuries Centre at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Guttmann was convinced that sport was an excellent method of therapy for those with a physical disability as sport helps to build physical strength and self-respect.

Guttmann decided to create a competitive sporting environment for those with a physical disability to participate in and on July 29th 1948, he organised a sports competition for British World War II veteran patients with spinal cord injuries.  The start of these Stoke Mandeville Games was organised to coincide with the opening of the London 1948 Summer Olympics.

The Games were held again at the same location in 1952 and this time Dutch veterans took part alongside the British, making it the first international competition of its kind.  The Stoke Mandeville 1952 Games saw over 130 international competitors take part.

By 1960, the Games had become a highly important event and left Stoke Mandeville for the first time. The 1960 Games were held in Rome following the Rome Olympic Games.  Although the Games were still officially known as the Stoke Mandeville Games, the 1960 Games are considered to be the first of the Paralympic Games.

The only disability that was included in the Rome 1960 Paralympics was spinal cord injury.

Hosts Italy topped the first ever Paralympic medal table ahead of Great Britain and West Germany.

Date Games were held: September 18-25

Number of nations represented: 23

Number of competitors: 400

Number of medals awarded: 291

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) – the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement – was founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The word 'Paralympic' derives from the Greek word 'Para' which means 'beside' or 'alongside'.  This wording ensures that the Paralympics are considered an equal of the Olympic Games (which is why there are also known as 'the Parallel Games') and the two movements existence together side by side where neither considered more or less important than the other.

The IPC replaced the original governing body for the Paralympic Movement known as the International Co-ordination Committee of World Sports Organizations for the Disabled (ICC).  The ICC was established in 1982 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who realised that with the Paralympic Movement rapidly growing, the need for a single governing body to look after parasport was imperative.

The ICC lasted just 7 years before it was replaced by the IPC as it was the strong wish of the member nations to form a parasport organisation with a democratic constitution and elected representatives (not the case under the ICC).

The IPC was established with a very clear remit: To Enable Paralympic Athletes to Achieve Sporting Excellence and Inspire and Excite the World.  Furthermore, the non-profit organisation had a clear goal to promote the Paralympic values through increased coverage  and to create sport opportunities for all persons with a disability, from beginner to elite level.

The IPC is currently run by around 162 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) from five regions and four disability specific international sports federations (IOSDs).

The four IOSDs are:

• CPISRA: Cerebral Palsy International Sport and Recreation Association
• IBSA: International Blind Sports Federation
• INAS-FID: International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability
• IWAS: International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation

Canadian Robert D. Steadward – the man credited with being one of the founders of the parasport movement and the IPC - became the first President of the organisation in 1989.

In 1991 the IPC changed its logo at the request of the IOC who felt the similarity of their logos was confusing and might hamper marketing.  The IPC decided on a symbol of three Tae-Geuks, representing the Paralympic Motto: Mind, Body, and Spirit.

The first Paralympic Games to be organized by the IPC were the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Paralympics in Norway. However, since the Lillehammer Paralympic Organizing Committee (LPOC) had already started a marketing programme for the 1994 Paralympic Winter Games based on the old IPC logo, the new logo wasn't officially launched until after the Lillehammer 1994 Games.

By 1999, the IPC had grown considerably and moved into what remains its current Headquarters in Bonn, Germany.  In December 2001, after the maximum of three terms in office, Steadward was succeeded by the former British Paralympian and President of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, Sir Philip Craven, who remains the IPC President to this day.  Under Craven, the IPC have continued to expand dramatically and perhaps the Movement's growth is best exemplified through the phenomenal rise of the Paralympic Games.

More countries competed at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics (3951 athletes, 146 countries) than at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games.  The Beijing 2008 Paralympics proved the most successful Paralympic Games in history in terms of number of participants, number of records broken and number of spectators tuning in around the world.

Sport for people with a disability is also growing at national and international level and the IPC will continue to promote the core Paralympic values of courage, determination, inspiration and equality.

On 4 September 2009, the IPC celebrated a double anniversary.  It was the 20-year anniversary of the organisation's formation as well as the 10-year anniversary of the IPC moving into its Headquarters in Bonn.  The day was a special celebration that emphasised how far the Paralympic Movement has come since the inception of the IPC yet displayed how far there is still to go for the IPC to do to be considered truly parallel with the Olympic Games.

The last 20 years of the IPC's existence were perhaps best illustrated in a speech made by Sir Philip Craven in which he said: "This is a chance to recognize the growth of both the organization and the Paralympic Movement.  Whether we look to the development of the Paralympic Games or Paralympic Sport in general, the global audience has become more aware about athletes with a disability.  This has always been our aim and will continue to inspire us further."

Parasport or disability sport is played by people with physical and intellectual disabilities and has existed for more than 100 years.  Parasport is generally divided into three broad disability groups: deaf people, people with physical disabilities and people with intellectual disabilities.  Each group has its own history, organisation and approach and each group has made significant contributions to what is considered modern-day parasport.

In the 19th Century, research into parasport proved sporting activity was very important for the re-education and rehabilitation of people with a disability although it was not until 1924 that the first deaf sport - the 'Paris Silent Games' - took place.  The Games were organised by the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (CISS) and eventually evolved into the modern Deaflympics which is today governed by the CISS.

The Paralympic movement truly began as recently as the 1940s, shortly after the end of World War II. With a large number of injured soldiers and civilians disabled during combat, parasport offered a fantastic method of treatment and rehabilitation.

The man behind the Paralympic movement was a German neurologist named Ludwig Guttmann, a leading pre-World War II neurologist.  A huge believer in sport as a method of rehabilitation for the disabled, Guttmann establish the Stoke Mandeville Games on July 28th 1948 to coincide with the starting date of the Opening Ceremony of the 1948 Olympic Games in London.  In so doing Guttmann brought about the first parasport competition for wheelchair athletes.

In 1952, Dutch ex-servicemen joined the movement and founded the International Stoke Mandeville Games Committee (ISMGF). The Stoke Mandeville Games were the precursor to the Paralympic Games which first officially took place in Rome in 1960.

At the Rome 1960 Paralympics, the competitive programme included eight parasport events considered beneficial and suitable for athletes with spinal cord injuries.  These were Snooker, Fencing (foil or sabre), Javelin and Precision Javelin, Shot Put, Indian Club Throwing (throwing a baton), Men's Basketball and Swimming (Freestyle, Breaststroke and Backstroke).  Other non-competitive parasport events at the Games were: Table Tennis (singles and doubles), Archery, Dart Archery and the Pentathlon (Archery, Swimming, Javelin, Shot Put and Club Throwing).

The sixties also saw the introduction of parasport for people with intellectual disabilities through the Special Olympics movement.  This grew out of a series of summer camps organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, beginning in 1962.  In 1968 the first international Special Olympics were held, in Chicago.  Today, Special Olympics provide training and competition in a variety of sports for persons with intellectual disabilities.

By 1986, the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) was formed to support elite competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities.  This was established in contrast to the more participative 'sport for all' approach of Special Olympics.

Athletes with intellectual disabilities were included in the Paralympic Games. However in 2000 INAS-FID athletes were banned from Paralympic competition after a cheating scandal at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, where a number of athletes participating in intellectual disability events were revealed to not actually be disabled.  After years of campaigning from various groups involved in parasport, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) decided to reinstated intellectual disability athletes into the Paralympic Games on 21st November 2009.

The IPC are the organisation responsible for running the Paralympic movement and parasport around the World. Founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, Germany under the Presidency of Canadian Robert D. Steadward, the IPC has established itself as a unique umbrella organisation.  Where other international parasport organisations for athletes with a disability are either limited to one disability group or to one specific parasport, the IPC represents several parasports and disabilities.

There are now 23 parasports forming part of the Paralympic movement heading into the London 2012 Paralympic Games.  However there are hundreds of other parasports (competitive or otherwise) that disabled people participate in as parasport increases in popularity around the world.

The legendary Sir Ludwig Guttmann is credited as the man responsible for founding the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Movement as a whole.  Guttmann was one of the leading pre-World War II neurologists in Germany and worked at the Jewish Hospital in Breslau.

In 1939, Guttmann was forced to flee to England as World War II broke out and in 1944, with the war coming to an end, Guttmann was asked by the British government to found the National Spinal Injuries Centre at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital.  At this time, there were many British casualties from the War who required the services at Stoke Mandeville.

Guttmann was a huge believer in the power of sport to change lives.  He believed sport was an excellent method of therapy for those with a physical disability to help them build physical strength and self-respect.

On July 29th 1948, Guttmann organised a sports competition for British World War II veteran patients with spinal cord injuries.  These were known as the Stoke Mandeville Games.  These Games were organised to coincide with the opening of the London 1948 Summer Olympics but were not actually part of the Olympics.

These Stoke Mandeville Games have been described as the precursors of the Paralympic Games and it was at these Games that the Paralympic Movement was born.

In 1952 the Stoke Mandeville Games were again held in the same location.  This time the Games were not only participated in by British competitors as Dutch veterans also took part, making the 1952 Stoke Mandeville Games the first international competition of its kind.

The Stoke Mandeville Games continued to grow over the next few years and impressed both Olympic officials and the international community so much that by 1956 Guttmann was awarded the prestigious Fearnley Cup, an award presented for outstanding contribution to the Olympic ideal.

By 1960, the Games had become widely renowned.  They left Stoke Mandeville for the first time in their history and the 1960 Games were held in Rome following the Rome 1960 Olympic Games.  They were still known as the Stoke Mandeville Games.  These 1960 Stoke Mandeville Games are considered to be the first of the official Paralympic Games, however the only disability that was included was spinal cord injury.

Those first Paralympics in Rome attracted 400 athletes from 23 countries and the host nation topped the medal table ahead of Great Britain.  The Games were not without their problems however.  The athletes' village was not completely wheelchair-accessible and military personnel stepped in to assist as athletes had to be carried up and down stairs.  Following the 1960 Games things began to improve for disability athletes as the movement continued to grow, modernise and include more and more disability groups.

By the Toronto 1976 Paralympics, specialised racing wheelchairs were introduced and events for amputees and visually impaired athletes were held for the first time.  Just four years later at the Arnhem 1980 Paralympics there were events for athletes with cerebral palsy.  Despite the improvements, the Paralympic Games were still not considered an equal or "parallel" to the Olympic Games as they were not held in the same venue (or often even the same country) as their Olympic counterpart.

The 1980s saw a rapid growth in the Paralympic Movement.  In 1982 the original governing body for the Paralympic Movement was formed, known as the International Co-ordination Committee of World Sports Organisations for the Disabled (ICC).  The ICC was established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who realised that, with the Paralympic Movement rapidly growing, the need for a single governing body to look after parasport was imperative.

The ICC lobbied hard for the Paralympic Games to be considered a true equal of the Olympic Games and in 1988 the breakthrough finally came.  The Seoul 1988 Games were the first Games where Paralympic athletes competed in many of the well-constructed and well-designed facilities used previously for the Olympics.

In 1989, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) replaced the ICC as the governing body of the Paralympic movement with Canadian Robert D. Steadward as its President.  The IPC had the clear remit: To Enable Paralympic Athletes to Achieve Sporting Excellence and Inspire and Excite the World.

The IPC is a unique organisation.  Where other international sports organisations for athletes with a disability are either limited to one disability group or to one specific sport, the IPC, as an umbrella organisation, represents several sports and disabilities.

In 1994 the IPC organised their first Paralympic Games, the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Paralympics in Norway.  By 1999 the IPC had grown considerably and moved into what remains its current Headquarters in Bonn, Germany.  In December 2001, after the maximum of three terms in office, Steadward was succeeded by the former British Paralympian Sir Philip Craven who remains the IPC President to this day.  He has overseen the continuing growth of the Paralympic Movement exemplified through the phenomenal rise of the Paralympic Games.

The Beijing 2008 Paralympics proved the most successful Paralympic Games in history in terms of number of participants, number of records broken and number of spectators tuning in around the world.  The number of athletes and nations participating in the Paralympic Games will continue to increase at the London 2012 Games and the Paralympic Movement will only increase alongside an ever growing parasport audience.

After a struggle to receive recognition as the true equal of the Olympics Games, the Paralympic Games now exists together side by side with the Olympics with neither Games considered more or less important than the other.

From its humble beginnings in Stoke Mandeville, the Paralympic Movement is now one of the largest sporting phenomenons on earth and the legacy created by Sir Ludwig Guttmann does not appear to be showing any signs of slowing down.