Disabled sports in Spain started in the 1910s with the emergence of deaf sport. Blind sport began in the 1930s. Sport for people with physical disabilities began in the 1950s, and was primarily rehabilitative. The first major organization for disabled sports was created in 1968 at the direction of then president of the Spanish Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch. Spain competed at its first Paralympic Games that same year. ONCE became the official organization for organizing Spanish representation in international blind sport competitions in 1986. Spanish sport was restructured because of changes in law during the early 1990s, resulting in the creation of four new disability sport organizations and the Spanish Paralympic Committee. During the 1990s and 2000s, funding opportunities for disabled sports improved.
The first deaf sports club was created in Spain in 1917 when Deaf Sports Circle of Barcelona was formed. [1] It was not until 1949 that the Spanish Committee of Silent Sports was created; [1] Marcos Anavi Benavideste was the group's first president, a position he would stay in for ten years. [2]
Blind sports were being organized in schools for the blind in Spain by 1938. Early sports blind children participated in included chess, swimming and athletics. Competitive blind sport started by 1958 at Colegio Inmaculada Concepción de Madrid when an organized race took place between visually impaired and sighted students. [3]
During the 1950s, the Spanish Red Cross was involved in organizing disabled sports opportunities in the country, including organizing the first Olimpiadas de la Esperanza held in Tarragona. [4] In 1956, the Hogares Mundet was created as a residential facility for children with physical disabilities who had no parents. A key part of care was the integration of sport. [4]
In 1960, Spanish Committee of Silent Sports joined the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf. [1] A year later, in 1961, Spain sent its first delegation to the Deaflympics. [1] The first national deaf sport championship was held in the 1960s. Initially, the competition had only two sports on the program, chess and football. [1]
Early disabled sports for physically disabled people practiced in Spain during this period included wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, boccia and archery. [5] Much of it was focused around large hospitals. [6]
As a result of the increase in participation and interest in sport for people with physical disabilities, then president of the Spanish Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch charged Guillermo Cabezas to create the Spanish Sports Federation for the Physically Disabled (FEDDF), which was done in 1968. While originally created only for people with physical disabilities, it soon became a catchall organization representing multiple disability types. [4] [6] [7] During the 1960s, FEDDF then known as FEDM lacked funding. A number of public institutions were indifferent to needs of sportspeople with disabilities, did not understand what role the organization should play and, consequently, they provided little assistance. Many disabled sportspeople at the time had to fund their own activities. [4] Key people involved in pioneering disabled sports during the 1960s included Diego Monreal, Mary Tamayo, Lojo Jaramillo, Juan Peris, Jose Barbero, Olga Martinez, Juan Palau, Jesus Maza, Antonio Marco, Isabel de Cubas, J. Antonio Jiménez, Gaspar Anaya, and Alfonso Otero. [4]
Spain sent its first delegation to compete at the Paralympic Games in 1968. [8]
Wheelchair basketball was first played in Spain in 1969. [9] During the 1970s, wheelchair basketball began developing in the country. Its organizers offered a model of success that was then duplicated in other Spanish sports including swimming and skiing. [4]
When sport for people physical disabilities really began in Spain during the 1970s, it was intended to aid in patient rehabilitation. By the early 2000, disabled sports has evolved and become a competitive thing. [5]
The first international contact between Spain's blind sport community and the international community took place in 1970 in France. [3] In 1972, the first National Sports Championships for the Physically Disabled (Spanish : Juegos Nacionales Minusválidos were held. [4] Spain sent a 30-member strong delegation to the 1972 Summer Paralympics. [4] In 1973, the program for the national deaf sports championships expanded to include basketball, tennis, table tennis, and bowls. [1]
For the 1976 Summer Paralympics, blind sports were introduced on the Paralympic programme. [3] A Special Olympics was first held in the country in Madrid in 1978. [7] Spain sent its first delegation to the Winter Deaflympics in 1983. [1]
During the 1970s and early 1980s, FEDDF was dominated by people with physical disabilities and other disabilities types like vision impairment did not get as much support inside the organization. [3] This served to push for the creation of ONCE to promote blind sport. [3] In 1986, ONCE became the official organization for organizing Spanish representation in international blind sport competitions. It would continue in this role until the conclusion of the 1994 blind sport world championships held in Berlin. [3]
In 1991, the Catalan Tennis Federation began to work on integrating wheelchair tennis into its organization. By 1995, the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation and International Tennis Federation also began working on integration. FEDDF built wheelchair tennis into the organization based on these examples of integration attempts. The partnership between the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation and FEDMF provided additional funding and competition opportunities for FEDMF wheelchair tennis players. [10]
In 1990, the General Law of Sports was passed, (Spanish : Ley General del Deporte) which led to changes in how sport was organized inside Spain. Eventually, changes in response to the law assisted in creating a landscape that resulted in the creation of several national Spanish disabled sports organizations for specific disability types. This included the creation of Spanish Federation of Sports for the Blind, Spanish Federation of Sportspeople with Intellectual Disabilities, Spanish Federation of Sports for the Deaf and Spanish Federation of Sportspeople with Cerebral Palsy. [11] [12] The law meant that while these sport organizations are private ones, they serve a public interest. [13]
When Barcelona hosted the 1992 Summer Paralympics, this edition turned a defining moment for disabled sports in Spain and the world. It ended up assisting the definition of Spanish sport organizations connected to people with disabilities. [4] Following the entire administrative process of reorganization of world Paralympic sport, the Spanish Paralympic Committee was created in 1995, following the 1992 Summer Paralympics and worked to select the spanish team to the 1996 Summer Paralympics. [5]
Following the 1992 Games, the Catalan Federation of Sports for Disabled developed a program called HospiSport designed at formalizing the integration of sport into rehabilitation by taking patients out of the hospital and having them participate in programs at sport facilities. [4] 26% of the athletes competing at the Barcelona Games had incurred an injury that resulted in their disability before they were fifteen years old. Of these, 80% had participated in some type of sports prior to acquiring their disability. [4]
By the time the 1996 Summer Paralympics arrived, Spanish disability sportspeople were regularly training alongside their able bodied counterparts. [5] In 1996, the Madrid Federation of Physically Disabled Sport (Spanish : Federación Madrileña de Deportes de Minusválidos Físicos) (FMDMF) was created. [14] By 2008, the FMDMF would have 37 Madrid based clubs and specific sport federations aligned with it. [14]
During the late 1990s, the national disabled sports organizations received a grants from Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (Spanish : Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). [15]
During the 2000s and 2010s, the national disabled sports organizations received a number of grants from Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport(Spanish : Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). [16] [17] [18] In June 2005, Plan ADOP was created to better support Paralympic competitors in their quest to qualify for the Games. It was signed into law by Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The budget for Beijing Games Paralympic cycle was €7 million. Funding for the London cycle, which started following the conclusion of the 2008 Summer Paralympics was €17.5 million with funding drawn from 20 different companies and organizations. [19]
From 2004 to 2008, participation in disabled sports in Madrid grew at a rate of 33.10% a year. [11] By 2008, 60 different Paralympic athletes had been integrated into programs run at Spain's regional High Performance Centers. [19]
To participate in sanctioned events on the local level, sportspeople need to be licensed. In Madrid, you can be licensed by FMDMF for an eighteen sports including athletics, swimming, wheelchair basketball, canoeing, badminton, wheelchair tennis, boccia, table tennis, diving, archery, cycling, sports shooting, fencing, sailing, alpine skiing, powerchair soccer and powerlifting. [14] In the 2010, there were around 800 wheelchair basketball players in Spain playing for 42 different teams. [20]
There are two major funding bodies for disabled sports in Spain, ONCE and the Consejo Superior de Deportes. [4]
UNES FC Barcelona is a Spanish wheelchair basketball team. It is part of both the FC Barcelona family and the UNES Unió Esportiva.
The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2020, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 539 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about 80 events. The number and kinds of events may change from one Paralympic Games to another.
Disability sports classification is a system that allows for fair competition between people with different types of disabilities.
Teresa Silva is a Spanish elite sportswoman with disabilities, founder and president of Fundación También. She has also made a name for herself in disciplines such as skiing and adapted sailing, in which she has been Champion of Spain and Regional Champion, respectively. Creator of the first female adapted alpine sit skiing competition team in Spain in 2007. President of the Spanish 2.4 mR Sailing Association. She is also a recognised speaker in the world of disability and adapted sports.
Daniel Javier Caverzaschi Arzola is a Spanish wheelchair tennis player. He has represented Spain in 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics. He won a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in the Men's doubles event.
Spanish Paralympic Committee is a Spanish non-profit sport organisation founded in 1995, that oversees five national disability sport federations. The organisation has a Secretary General and a President. Since 2005, they have been supported by Plan ADO. In 2000, the CPE was involved in a cheating scandal at the 2000 Summer Paralympics.
Jaume Llambi Riera is a wheelchair basketball player and table tennis player from Spain. A paraplegic as a result of a car accident when he was 8 years old, he went on to represent Spain at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in table tennis. He then switched sports to wheelchair basketball, making his national team debut in 1998. In 2012, he represented Spain in wheelchair basketball at the Paralympic Games in London where his team finished fifth.
Spanish Federation of Sports for the Blind is the national governing body for blind sport in Spain. It is one of five disability organizations that are part of the Spanish Paralympic Committee. Prior to its creation in 1995, blind sport in Spain was governed by Spanish Sports Federation for the Physically Disabled and Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE).
Spanish Sports Federation for Persons with Physical Disabilities is one of five disability sport organizations aligned with the Spanish Paralympic Committee that works towards support disability sport in Spain, and in this case specifically for people with physical disabilities.
Spanish Federation of Sportspeople with Intellectual Disabilities is one of five disability sport organizations that deals with sport on the national level. It focuses on intellectual disabilities, one of two in the country to do so nationally. It has a high performance focus.
Spanish Federation of Sports for the Deaf is the national governing body for deaf sports in Spain. Based in Madrid and created in 1993, they are one of five disability sport organizations that are members of the Spanish Paralympic Committee.
Spanish Federation of Sportspeople with the Cerebral Palsy is the national sports federation for people with cerebral palsy. It is composed of regional federations. It supports a number of sports.
Miguel Rodríguez Martinez is a Spanish table tennis player who competes in a wheelchair. He has been the Spanish national champion in the men's single championship in 2011, 2012 and 2012, and has been internationally ranked. He has represented Spain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Cerebral palsy sport classification is a classification system used by sports that include people with cerebral palsy (CP) with different degrees of severity to compete fairly against each other and against others with different types of disabilities. In general, Cerebral Palsy-International Sports and Recreation Association (CP-ISRA) serves as the body in charge of classification for cerebral palsy sport, though some sports have their own classification systems which apply to CP sportspeople.
Amputee sports classification is a disability specific sport classification used for disability sports to facilitate fair competition among people with different types of amputations. This classification was set up by International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD), and is currently managed by IWAS who ISOD merged with in 2005. Several sports have sport specific governing bodies managing classification for amputee sportspeople.
Les Autres sport classification is system used in disability sport for people with locomotor disabilities not included in other classification systems for people with physical disabilities. The purpose of this system is to facilitate fair competition between people with different types of disabilities, and to give credibility to disability sports. It was designed and managed by International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD) until the 2005 merger with IWAS, when management switched to that organization. Classification is handled on the national level by relevant sport organizations.
LA5 is a Les Autres sport classification is an ambulatory sport classification for a sportsperson with a disability that impacts their locomotor function. People in this class have normal upper limb functionality, but have problems with balance or use of their lower limbs. Generally, limb problems are confined to one limb.
LA6 is a Les Autres sport classification is an ambulatory sport classification for a sportsperson with a disability that impacts their locomotor function. People in this class have a minimal locomotor disability that tends to impact one of their upper limbs or knees. The class includes people with arthritis and osteoporosis, or ankylosis of the knee.
The Colombian Paralympic Committee Spanish: Comité Paralímpico Colombiano is a private, non-profit organization representing the Colombian Paralympic athletes in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Parapan American Games, and the South American Para Games. It is the governing body of the Colombian Paralympic sport; it represents 15 member sports organizations.
Disability in Spain is characterised by an aging population, thus an increasing proportion of disabled citizens. Social services are provided by regional and municipal authorities. Several laws protect the interests of disabled people, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which Spain signed and ratified in 2007. Disability culture features an active performing and visual arts sector which is supported by government policy and funding. Disabled sport in Spain has a long history but was boosted by the fact that the country hosted the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona and Madrid, and started a lot of policy and structural changes since the 1990s.
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