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.
China was the host of the 2008 Summer Paralympics, held in Beijing. China's delegation included 547 people, of whom 332 were competitors. The athletes, 197 men and 135 women, ranged in age from 15 to 51 and competed in all twenty sports. 226 of the competitors participated in the Paralympic Games for the first time. The delegation was the largest in Chinese history and at the 2008 Games. China topped the medal count at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. China dominated the medal count winning the most gold, silver, bronze, and total medals by a wide margin in Beijing.
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.
Israel sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. Israel sent 42 athletes, who competed in 11 sports: archery, athletics, basketball, cycling, equestrian, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis and tennis. The country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony was Yizhar Cohen, who won three gold medals at the 1988 Seoul Paralympics.
Table tennis at the 2008 Summer Paralympics was held in the Peking University Gymnasium from September 7 to September 15.
Natalia Dorota Partyka is a Polish table tennis player. Born without a right hand and forearm, she participates in competitions for able-bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities. Partyka reached the last 32 of the London 2012 Olympic women's table tennis.
Slovenia competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. The country was represented by thirty athletes competing in seven sports. The delegation was Slovenia's largest in its history as an independent country.
The United States sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. A total of 213 U.S. competitors took part in 18 sports; the only 2 sports Americans did not compete in were soccer 5-a-side and 7-a-side. The American delegation included 16 former members of the U.S. military, including 3 veterans of the Iraq War. Among them were shot putter Scott Winkler, who was paralyzed in an accident in Iraq, and swimmer Melissa Stockwell, a former United States Army officer who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in the war.
Australia sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. The country sent 167 athletes in 13 sports and 122 officials. It was the country's largest ever Paralympic delegation to an away Games. The team sent to Beijing was described as the emergence of the new generation of Australian athletes with 56 percent of the team attending their first Paralympic Games. The delegation's chef de mission was Darren Peters.
France sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. France sent 119 athletes, who competed in 13 sports: archery, athletics, cycling, equestrian, wheelchair fencing, powerlifting, judo, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, wheelchair tennis. There were some competitors that competed in rowing which made its debut in the Games.
Ukraine sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.
Malta competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China from 6 to 17 September 2008. This was the island nation's seventh appearance at a Summer Paralympic Games since their debut in 1960, but their first since the 1984 Summer Paralympics 24 years earlier. Antonio Flores, a runner, was the only athlete to represent Malta at the Games, having qualified via the 2008 British Open Athletics Championships. At the Paralympics, Flores did not qualify for the final of the men's 100 metres T44 event after placing 11th overall in the competition and fifth in his heat during the heat stages; the fastest four participants in his heat advanced to the final.
Zhang Xiaoling is a Chinese retired para table tennis player who won 12 Paralympic medals from 1988 to 2008.
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.
Borislava Perić-Ranković is a disabled Serbian table tennis player. She represented Serbia at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics in table tennis, winning one gold and three silver medals. She competes in the disability class 4. In the 2016 Summer Paralympics she won her first Paralympic gold medal in the individual class 4 competition, defeating China's Zhang Miao in the finals. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, she won a bronze medal.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 except for the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
The Philippines made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul and has been fielding athletes up to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Its athletes has won two bronze medals; Adeline Dumapong in powerlifting (2000), and Josephine Medina in table tennis (2016). The country has never won a Paralympic gold medal.
Melissa Tapper is an Australian table tennis player. After competing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she represented Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in elite non-Paralympic competition. In March 2016, she became the first Australian athlete to qualify for both the Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics.
Alena Kánová is a Slovak table tennis player who has played at the Summer Paralympics for her country, winning gold at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, and silver at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. She also competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in wheelchair curling.
Khetam Kamal Hasan Abuawad is a Jordanian paralympic athlete who has spina bifida and has won two medals at the Summer Paralympics and has been competing for Jordan internationally since 1998. She is currently ranked world number one in singles class 5 and world number six in teams class.
