400m sprint events began in the 1976 Summer Paralympics was open to both male and female wheelchair competitors. In the 1980 Summer Paralympics, able bodied competitors also took part in this event.
Pieter Christiaan Joon founded the World Organization Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) in 1980 in the Netherlands. He was the president of this organization from 1980 to 2001. The General Assembly of the WOVD, in a meeting on 27 October 2001 in Slovenia, decided to award him the title of Honorary President.
The Paralympic symbols are the icons, flags, and symbols used by the International Paralympic Committee to promote the Paralympic Games.
Poland first participated at the Olympic Games in 1924, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except for the 1984 Games, when they were forced to be part of the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics. Poland has also participated in every Winter Olympic Games.
Tunisia first participated at the Olympic Games in 1960, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics and has never participated in the Winter Olympic Games.
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.
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.
Noel Thatcher is a British Paralympic runner who represented the United Kingdom at six Paralympic Games between 1984 and 2004, collecting a total of five gold medals. His two career highlights are winning gold and setting a world record at Barcelona in 1992, and winning the 5k race in Sydney in 2000, again setting a world record. At the 2004 Games in Athens, he carried the flag for the Great Britain team at the opening ceremony.
These defunct field events were once contested in previous Paralympic Games in which both men and women competed in various classes.
Chris De Craene is a Belgian paralympic athlete, and para swimmer. She competed at the 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992 Summer Paralympics. She won three medals, one silver and two bronze.
