The Paralympics is a major international multi-sport event involving athletes with a range of disabilities, including impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Cheating at the Paralympic Games has caused scandals that have significantly changed the way in which the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) manages the events.
East Timor sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. However, official records give no indication that more than one East Timorese athlete eventually entered competition. Costa Silva was also listed as the country's flagbearer for both the opening and the closing ceremonies.
Vietnam competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. The country was represented by nine athletes, competing in powerlifting, athletics, swimming and judo. Two of the athletes, powerlifters Dinh Thi Nga and Le Van Cong, qualified for the Paralympics through their showings at international competitions, while the other seven team members were given wild card invitations. The head of the delegation was Vu The Phiet. The group left for Beijing following a departure ceremony on August 22 in Hanoi.
Afghanistan first competed at the Paralympic Games during the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, where it was represented by cyclists Gul Afzal and Zabet Khan.
Uganda sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. According to official records, the only athlete was powerlifter Billy Ssengendo.
Nigeria sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. The country was represented by 28 athletes competing in four sports: powerlifting, table tennis, wheelchair tennis and track and field. The Nigerian team included eight powerlifters.
Pakistan sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. Haider Ali created history by winning a silver medal, the country's first at any Paralympics. The delegation was also rocked by a doping scandal, when its powerlifter, Naveed Ahmed Butt was banned for testing positive, the first athlete at the games.
Benin sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. They were represented by one athlete, powerlifter Blandine Sahenou.
Kyrgyzstan sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The only recorded athlete was powerlifter Roman Omurbekov.
Oman sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. According to official records, the only athlete was powerlifter Badar Al Harthy.
Niger sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. According to official records, the country's only representative was powerlifter Zakari Amadou.
Azerbaijan competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. Two powerlifters tested positive for steroids in initial drug tests on 18 September 2004 and were banned for life from the Paralympics having both tested positive in previous championships. Sara Abbasova competed in the women's -82.5 kg category and had her first violation at the 2001 powerlifting championships in Hungary. Gunduz Ismayilov who had set a world record and won a gold medal in Men's -90 kg competition at the 2000 Summer Paralympics was stripped of it and had his record nullified after testing positive for nandrolone.
Azerbaijan competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, Australia having won one silver medal. Powerlifter Gunduz Ismayilov who initially had won a gold medal in Men's -90kg competition lifting 240 kg to set a world record was stripped of it with his record nullified after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone. Ismayilov subsequently was banned from the Paralympics for life in 2004 after testing positive for stanazolol in the 2004 Summer Paralympics.
Vanuatu competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. The country was making its return to the Paralympic Games, having been absent from the 2004 edition. Vanuatu sent only a small delegation with powerlifter Tom Tete as the only athlete, and did not win any medals.
Moldova sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. According to official records, the country's only athletic representative was female powerlifter Larisa Marinenkova.
Mali made its Paralympic Games début at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney. The country sent only one athlete, who competed in powerlifting. He did not win a medal. One of nineteen powerlifters in the men's up to 75kg category, he lifted 130kg, placing him last of the seventeen athletes who successfully lifted a weight.
The Philippines made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul and has been fielding athletes up to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games. Powerlifter Adeline Dumapong won her country's first Paralympic medal when she took the bronze medal in the Up to 82.5 kg event, lifting 110 kg in the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games.
Honduras sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7–18 September 2016. This was the nation's sixth appearance at a Summer Paralympiad after it debuted at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The Honduran delegation to Rio de Janeiro consisted of two athletes: powerlifter Gabriel Zelaya Díaz and short-distance swimmer Emmanuel Díaz. Both competitors were not ranked in their respective competitions after Gabriel Zelaya Díaz was unable to lift any weights in his three tries and Emmanuel Díaz was two minutes late arriving to his event.
