Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing able-bodied sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have an able-bodied equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical 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 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The 2010 Winter Paralympics, or the tenth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada from March 12 to 21, 2010. The Opening Ceremony took place in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Closing Ceremony in Whistler Medals Plaza.
The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October.The Sydney Paralympics was last Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different Organizing Committees.In this edition,a record 3,801 athletes from 125 National Paralympic Committes participated in 551 events in 18 sports and until the 2006 Commonwealth Games waa the second largest sporting event ever held in Australia.Sydney was the eighth city to host the Olympics and the Paralympics on same venues at the same year.They were also the first Paralympic Games outside the Northern Hemisphere.
The 1980 Summer Paralympics, branded as the Olympics for the Disabled, were the sixth Summer Paralympic Games. They were held in Arnhem, Netherlands, from 21 to 30 June 1980.
Neroli Susan Fairhall was a New Zealand athlete, who was the first paraplegic competitor in the Olympic Games.
Athletes from Spain have competed at the Paralympic Games since the 1968 Summer events and the country hosted the 1992 Summer Paralympics. Competitors have represented Spain in ten of the twelve Summer Paralympics, missing only the first two events in Rome and Tokyo.
The Summer Paralympics also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, organized by the International Paralympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that the Olympic Games started in 1904.
The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games and hosted in the same city. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) oversees the Games. Medals are awarded in each event: with gold for first place, silver for second, and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games began in 1904.
Athletics has been contested at every Summer Paralympics since the first games in 1960. Men and women from all disability groups compete in the sport.
China first competed at the Paralympic Games in 1984, at the Summer Games in New York City, United States and Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom. Since the 2004 Athens Games, China has topped the medal table with more gold medals, more silver medals and more medals overall than any other nation at every Summer Paralympics.
Ukraine made its Paralympic Games début at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, with thirty athletes competing in archery, track and field, powerlifting, swimming, and sitting volleyball. Vasyl Lishchynskyy won Ukraine's first Paralympic gold medal, in the shot put, and Ukrainians also won four silver medals and two bronze. Ukrainians had previously participated within the Soviet Union's delegation in 1988, and as part of the Unified Team in 1992. Ukraine, following its independence from the Soviet Union, missed out on the 1994 Winter Games, but made its Winter Paralympics début at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano. Ukraine has competed at every edition of the Summer and Winter Games since then and have done so with remarkable success.
The 2020 Summer Paralympics, branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The medal table of the 2012 Summer Paralympics ranks the participating National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) by the number of gold medals won by their athletes during the competition. The 2012 Paralympics was the fourteenth Games to be held, a quadrennial competition open to athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities. The games were held in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012.
Jessica Helen Gillan is a New Zealand paralympic athlete and shotputter. She represented New Zealand at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, the latter where she won a bronze medal in the Women's shot put F34.
New Zealand sent a delegation to compete at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, held between 7–16 March 2014. The country continued its streak of competing in every Winter Paralympics since 1984. New Zealand's delegation consisted of three competitors in alpine skiing, one of whom, Corey Peters, won a silver medal in the giant slalom. With one silver medal, the country tied for 16th on the medal table for these Paralympics.
Nigeria competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. Nigeria's delegation of 23 sportspeople was mostly composed of powerlifters, with the country sending 14 lifters to Rio. Ahead of the Rio Games, the National Sports Commission promised Paralympic medals to erase the country's Olympic shame.
Samoa competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016, sending two discus athletes, one male and one female. This was Samoa's fifth consecutive Paralympics, with their first Paralympics in 2000. Alefosio ‘Sio’ Laki finished 12th, setting a new personal record. Maggie Aiono finished the Paralympics in 11th place. As of the conclusion of these Paralympics, Samoa has not won a Paralympic medal.
Afghanistan 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 fifth time taking part in a Summer Paralympic Games. The Afghan delegation consisted of a single athlete, Mohammad Durani, who competed in the javelin throw. Originally he finished 16th in his event, but he was retroactively disqualified for a doping violation.
Athletics at the 2020 Summer Paralympics were held in the National Stadium in Tokyo. There was 167 medal events: 93 for men, 73 for women and one mixed event. It was the largest contest of the Games programme regarding athlete numbers and medal events to be scheduled.
