The 1992 Summer Paralympics were the ninth Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In addition, the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with mental handicap were held immediately after the regular Paralympics in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
The 2004 Summer Paralympics, the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece from 17 to 28 September 2004. 3,808 athletes from 136 countries participated. During these games 304 World Records were broken with 448 Paralympic Games Records being broken across 19 different sports. 8,863 volunteers worked along the Organizing Committee.
The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was first time the new Paralympic logo featured in the Summer Paralympics since its rebranding after the 2004 Summer Paralympics.
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held in Albertville, France, from February 8 to 23. A total of 1,801 athletes representing 64 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in 57 events from 12 different sports and disciplines. In a break from tradition, the medals were primarily made of crystal rather than metal: gold, silver, or bronze was used only on the border.
The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held in Lake Placid, New York, United States, from February 13 to 24. A total of 1,072 athletes from 37 nations participated in 38 events from 10 different sports.
China's participation in the Olympic games is relatively recent. The People's Republic of China sent its first full athletic delegation to the Summer Olympic Games in the 1984 Summer Olympics which was held in Los Angeles, United States.
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.
The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games and hosted in the same city. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) oversees the Games. Medals are awarded in each event: with gold for first place, silver for second, and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games began in 1904.
The Olympic medal table is a method of sorting the medal placements of countries in the modern-day Olympics and Paralympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not officially recognize a ranking of participating countries at the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, the IOC does publish medal tallies for information purposes, showing the total number of Olympic medals earned by athletes representing each country's respective National Olympic Committee. The convention used by the IOC is to sort by the number of gold medals the athletes from a country have earned. In the event of a tie in the number of gold medals, the number of silver medals is taken into consideration, and then the number of bronze medals. If two countries have an equal number of gold, silver, and bronze medals, they are ordered in the table alphabetically by their IOC country code.
The medal table of the 2008 Summer Paralympics ranks the participating National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) by the number of gold medals won by their athletes during the competition. The 2008 Paralympics was the thirteenth Games to be held, a quadrennial competition open to athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities. The games were held in Beijing, People's Republic of China, from 6 September to 17 September 2008.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 with the exception of the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has participated in every summer and winter Paralympic Games.
France participated in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome, and has taken part in every edition of the Summer and Winter Paralympics since then. France was the host country of the 1992 Winter Paralympics and the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Canada has participated eleven times in the Summer Paralympic Games and in all Winter Paralympic Games. They first competed at the Summer Games in 1968 and the Winter Games in 1976.
A team representing Ireland has competed at every Summer Paralympic Games. The country has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics. Irish athletes have won 238 Summer Paralympic medals. Paralympics Ireland is the National Paralympic Committee.
The United States of America (USA), represented by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, has participated in every Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and is currently first on the all-time medal table. The nation used to be a dominant Paralympic power in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but has steadily declined since the 1990s to a point where it finished sixth in the 2012 Summer Paralympics medal count. The team then improved to a fourth-place finish in 2016, and third in 2020, and unexpectedly finished first at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
Brazil made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg, sending representatives to compete in track and field, archery, swimming and wheelchair basketball. The country has competed in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since.
Germany (GER) participated in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome, where it sent a delegation of nine athletes. The country, since 1949 officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), was until 1990 also called West Germany while the separate East German Democratic Republic (GDR) existed, which was recognized by the IOC only after 1964. East German athletes, however, participated in the Paralympics for the first and last time in 1984. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, athletes from all of Germany compete simply as Germany (GER) again.
Ukraine made its Paralympic Games début at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, with thirty athletes competing in archery, track and field, powerlifting, swimming, and sitting volleyball. Vasyl Lishchynskyy won Ukraine's first Paralympic gold medal, in the shot put, and Ukrainians also won four silver medals and two bronze. Ukrainians had previously participated within the Soviet Union's delegation in 1988, and as part of the Unified Team in 1992. Ukraine, following its independence from the Soviet Union, missed out on the 1994 Winter Games, but made its Winter Paralympics début at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano. Ukraine has competed at every edition of the Summer and Winter Games since then and have done so with remarkable success.
The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February. A total of 2,871 athletes from 91 nations participated in 109 events in seven sports across 15 disciplines.
