The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Afghanistan sent a delegation to compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, which were held from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the eleventh appearance of the nation in the Summer Olympics and their first since their reinstatement to the International Olympic Committee in 2003 following a four-year ban due to the Taliban government's discrimination against women and their opposition to them playing sports. The delegation consisted of five athletes: sprinters Masoud Azizi and Robina Muqimyar, boxer Basharmal Sultani, judoka Friba Rezayee and wrestler Bashir Ahmad Rahmati. Muqimayar and Rezayee's inclusion in the Afghan delegation marked the first time the country sent a woman athlete to a Summer Olympics. All five failed to progress any further than the preliminary round of their respective sports and Afghanistan's best performance at the Games was by Muqimayar who set a new national women's 100 metre record in her heat.
Afghanistan has competed in 15 Summer Games. They have never appeared in any Winter Games. The country made its first appearance at the Berlin Games in 1936. It has sent a delegation to 14 of the 19 Summer Games since then. It is organised by the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee, which is currently presided by Nazar Mohammad Mutmaeen.
Afghanistan first competed at the Paralympic Games during the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, where it was represented by cyclists Gul Afzal and Zabet Khan.
Mareena Karim, born in 1989 or 1990, is an Afghan track and field athlete.
Qaher Hazrat, is an Afghan cyclist. The International Paralympic Committee describes him as "one of the country's top speed cyclists – in both disabled and able-bodied competition".
Israeli athletes have participated in the Paralympic Games since 1960.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 except for the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
Greece, the birthplace of the Ancient Olympic Games that hosted the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, did not compete in the Summer Paralympics until 1976 and in the Winter Paralympics until 2002, but since then the Greeks have taken part in every edition of both events. Although the Greek delegation traditionally enters first during the parade of nations at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, this tradition does not apply to the Paralympics, where Greece enters within alphabetical order. The National Paralympic Committee for Greece is the Hellenic Paralympic Committee.
Algeria made its Paralympic Games début at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, sending two competitors in athletics, and a goalball team. The country has taken part in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since then, but has never participated in the Winter Paralympics.
Algeria competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The team included eighteen athletes, fourteen men and four women. Algeria won thirteen medals, six gold, two silver and five bronze.
Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. It was Australia's 12th year of participation at the Paralympics. The team included 151 athletes. Australian competitors won 101 medals to finish fifth in the gold medal table and second on the total medal table. Australia competed in 12 sports and won medals in 8 sports. The Chef de Mission was Paul Bird. The Australian team was smaller than the Sydney Games due to a strict selection policy related to the athletes' potential to win a medal and the International Paralympic Committee's decision to remove events for athletes with an intellectual disability from the Games due to issues of cheating at the Sydney Games. This was due to a cheating scandal with the Spanish intellectually disabled basketball team in the 2000 Summer Paralympics where it was later discovered that only two players actually had intellectual disabilities. The IPC decision resulted in leading Australian athletes such as Siobhan Paton and Lisa Llorens not being able to defend their Paralympic titles. The 2000 summer paralympic games hosted in Sydney Australia proved to be a milestone for the Australian team as they finished first on the medal tally for the first time in history. In comparing Australia's 2000 Paralympic performance and their 2004 performance, it is suggested that having a home advantage might affect performance.
Austria competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The team included forty-four athletes—forty men and four women. Austrian competitors won twenty-two medals, eight gold, ten silver and four bronze, to finish twentieth in the medal table.
The Central African Republic made its Paralympic Games debut by sending a delegation to compete at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece, having made its Olympic debut in 1968. The delegation consisted in a single athlete, Thibaut Bomaya, who competed in the powerlifting. He did not win a medal, finishing in 11th place in the single round for the men's 56kg.
Egypt competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The team included 46 athletes, 36 men and 10 women. The Egyptian team included 46 sportspeople, 10 women and 36 men. This was 2 fewer women than the country had sent to Sydney for the 2000 Games. Three members of the delegation, including two athletes, participated in a study about dental health during the Games.
Sweden competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The team included 41 athletes, 32 men and 9 women. Competitors from Sweden won 21 medals, including 8 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze to finish 21st in the medal table.
Somalia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 7 to 18 September 2016. The country's participation in Rio marked its debut appearance in the quadrennial event, although it had competed in the Summer Olympics nine times since the 1972 Games. The delegation consisted of a single middle-distance runner, Farhan Adawe, who qualified for the Games by meeting qualification standards in March 2016. He was chosen as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony and came ninth overall in his event, the men's 100 metres (T52), which led to his elimination from the Paralympics.
Afghanistan sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7–18 September 2016. This was the nation's fifth time taking part in a Summer Paralympic Games. The Afghan delegation consisted of a single athlete, Mohammad Durani, who competed in the javelin throw. Originally he finished 16th in his event, but he was retroactively disqualified for a doping violation.
Zakia Khudadadi also spelt as Zakia Khodadadi is an Afghan parataekwondo practitioner. She is the first Afghan female taekwondo practitioner. She rose to prominence after winning the African International Parataekwondo Championship in 2016 at the age of 18. She represented Afghanistan at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. She was initially denied the opportunity to compete at her maiden Paralympics due to the Taliban takeover but she was later allowed by the International Paralympic Committee to compete in the event after being safely evacuated from Afghanistan. She was able to compete and became the first Afghan female Paralympic competitor to compete at the Paralympics after 17 years since Mareena Karim's participation at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. She also officially became the first Afghan female sportsperson to participate in an international sporting event after the Taliban takeover.
