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).
Swimming at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, in the Olympic Aquatic Centre was competed in freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, the breaststroke and individual medley .
Serbia first participated at the Olympic Games in 1912 as the Kingdom of Serbia. Serbia returned to the Olympics as an independent team after ninety-six years at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Teams from Yugoslavia first participated at the Olympic Games in 1920. Previously, several athletes from Croatia, Slovenia and northern Serbian province Vojvodina had competed for Austria or Hungary when those countries were part of the Empire of Austria-Hungary. A small team of two athletes had competed distinctly for Serbia at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Montenegro participated at the Olympic Games for the first time as an independent nation in 2008, at the Beijing Games. Previously, Montenegrin athletes have competed as part of Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 and as part of Yugoslavia before that.
The former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro appeared at the Olympic Games on two occasions from 2004 until 2006, after which the union was dissolved and Montenegro and Serbia each declared full independence.
The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed. Paralympic records were broken in 122 events, of which the records in 108 events were also world records.
An all-time medal table for all Paralympic Games from 1960 to 2018 Winter Paralympic Games ant publish all-time tables, and publishes unofficial tables only per single Games. This table was thus compiled by adding up single entries from the IPC database.
China competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, held in Athens, Greece. The country topped the medal table for the first time.
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.
Serbia made its Paralympic Games début at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, following its split with Montenegro. It had previously competed as part of Serbia and Montenegro in 2004; and as part of Yugoslavia before that.
The Union of Serbia and Montenegro only competed at the Paralympic Games under that name at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. In 1992, its athletes competed as Independent Paralympic Participants. From 1996 to 2000, included, it was officially known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The International Paralympic Committee lists the country as "Yugoslavia" up to 2000, included, and considers that "Serbia and Montenegro" participated only in 2004. In 2006, the Union split into two sovereign countries, henceforth competing separately as Serbia and Montenegro.
Yugoslavia made its Paralympic Games début at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg. It did not compete at the 1976 Summer Games, but did take part in the inaugural Winter Paralympics that year in Örnsköldsvik. In 1980, 1984 and 1988, it took part in both the Summer and Winter Games.
The Union of Serbia and Montenegro only competed at the Paralympic Games under that name at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. The team included 5 athletes. Competitors from Serbia and Montenegro won bronze 2 medals to finish 71st in the medal table.
Montenegro competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, where it was represented by a single athlete - Marijana Goranović.
Serbia sent a delegation to compete at the 2014 Winter Paralympics, in Sochi, Russia from 7–16 March 2014. This was the nation's second appearance at a Winter Paralympic Games. The Serbian delegation consisted of a single athlete alpine skier Jugoslav Milošević, whose best finish was 29th in the standing men's giant slalom event.
Montenegro sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the nation's third time competing at a Paralympic Games since it became independent from its federation with Serbia in June 2006. Montenegro was represented by two athletes in Rio de Janeiro: shot putter and discus thrower Marijana Goranović and short-distance swimmer Ilija Tadić. Goranović competed in two events in field and her best finish was in the women's shot put F41 competition, where she came eighth. Tadić took part in two swimming events and his best performance was in the men's 50 metre freestyle S9 tournament, where he placed 14th overall and did not advance to the final.
The Paralympic Committee of Montenegro is the National Paralympic Committee in Montenegro for the Paralympic Games movement. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams, and raises funds to send Montenegrin competitors to Paralympic events organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
