The 100 metres sprint has been one of original track events in the Summer Paralympics since 1968. The first track events were for male wheelchair competitors only (female wheelchair competitors took part in 60m sprints in that year, they took part in the 100m sprint in 1976). Able-bodied athletes took part in track events in 1976. Between the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics there was some new classifications added. Some amputees were moved from T42–T46 to T62–T66.
The Paralympic symbols are the icons, flags, and symbols used by the International Paralympic Committee to promote the Paralympic Games.
Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, including leg amputees, spinal cord injuries, and cerebral palsy. Athletes are classified in accordance with the nature and severity of their disability or combinations of disabilities. Like running, it can take place on a track or as a road race. The main competitions take place at the Summer Paralympics which wheelchair racing and athletics has been a part of since 1960. Competitors compete in specialized wheelchairs which allow the athletes to reach speeds of 30 km/h (18.6 mph) or more. It is one of the most prominent forms of Paralympic athletics.
Volleyball at the Summer Paralympics was first held in 1976, when the traditional form of standing volleyball for men was contested and sitting volleyball for men was a demonstration sport. From 1980 through 2000, men's standing and sitting events were contested. The women's sitting volleyball event was introduced in 2004.
Wheelchair basketball has been contested at the Summer Paralympic Games since the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 with the exception of 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.
Marathon events have been held at the Summer Paralympic Games, for both men and women, since the 1984 Summer Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville and New York City. They are held as part of the Paralympic athletics programme.
Zipora Rubin-Rosenbaum is an Israeli athlete who has won 31 Paralympic medals. She has represented Israel at the Summer Paralympic Games seven times and has competed in athletics, swimming, table tennis, and wheelchair basketball at the Games.
Shlomo Pinto was an Israeli paralympic champion.
Chantal Benoit is a Canadian wheelchair basketball player. She is considered among the best female wheelchair basketball players of all time.
John Harris is a former Paralympic athlete from Wales competing mainly in category 5 throwing events. In 1984 he became the world record holder in the discus winning gold at the Summer Paralympics, following this with silver in the discus and bronze in the Pentathlon four years later.
These defunct field events were once contested in previous Paralympic Games in which both men and women competed in various classes.
Denis Orval Lapalme was a Canadian amputee athlete and actor, most noted as a competitor and medalist at the Paralympic Games.
The UT Arlington Movin' Mavs men's wheelchair basketball team, previously known as the UTA Freewheelers, is the men's college wheelchair basketball team representing the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Established in 1976 as the UTA Freewheelers, the team played at the club level against other colleges and universities in Texas during the 1970s and 1980s. It has played under the auspices of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) since 1988, when the team was renamed the Movin' Mavs. Its inaugural coach, from 1976 until 2008, was Jim Hayes. The team was coached by Doug Garner from 2008 until 2022 when he retired. In fall of 2022, Aaron Gouge was hired as the new head coach for the team.
Ingrid Lauridsen is a Danish TW3 classified wheelchair racer who competed in the Paralympic Games and the IPC Athletics World Championships. She won a silver medal at the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem and took six gold medals and one bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Paralympics in New York and Stoke Mandeville. Lauridsen finished third in the women's 800 metres wheelchair event at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome. She took two gold medals and three bronze medals at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul and four silver medals at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona. Lauridsen won three medals at the 1994 IPC Athletics World Championships in Berlin.
Ruth Lamsbach is a German paralympic athlete and multiple medalist at the Paralympic Games.
