The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multi-sport events 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 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 2002 Winter Paralympics, the eighth Winter Paralympics, were held in Salt Lake City, United States, from March 7 to 16, 2002. A total of 416 athletes from 36 nations participated. They were the first Winter Paralympics in the American continent. These were the first Paralympic Winter Games for Andorra, Chile, China, Croatia, Greece, and Hungary. Ragnhild Myklebust of Norway won five gold medals in skiing and biathlon, becoming the most successful Winter Paralympic athlete of all time with 22 medals, 17 of them gold.
The 2014 Winter Paralympics, the 11th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), held in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia from 7 to 16 March 2014. 45 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) participated in the Games, which marked the first time Russia ever hosted the Paralympics. The Games featured 72 medal events in five sports, and saw the debut of snowboarding at the Winter Paralympics.
Australia has competed in every Winter Paralympics. In 1976, the first Games, Australia's sole competitor was Ron Finneran, but he was not an official entrant. In 1980, Kyrra Grunnsund and Peter Rickards became the first official competitors, in alpine and cross-country skiing. The number of Australian athletes increased to three, five, five and six at the next four games, respectively, and all of the athletes were alpine skiers. The participation decreased to four in 1998 and climbed back up to six in 2002. Australia won its first Winter Paralympic medals in 1992, and has medalled at every games since then. All of the medals have been won in alpine skiing.
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event held in Turin, Italy, from February 10 to February 26, 2006. A total of 2,508 athletes representing 80 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in 84 events from 15 different sports and disciplines.
Wheelchair curling is an adaptation of curling for athletes with a disability affecting their lower limbs or gait. Wheelchair curling is governed by the World Curling Federation, and is one of the sports in the Winter Paralympic Games.
Cheating at the Paralympic Games has caused scandals that have significantly changed the way in which the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) manages the events.
The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games. The Winter Paralympics are also hosted by the city that hosted the Winter Olympics. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) oversees the Winter Paralympics. Medals are awarded in each event: with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games started in 1904.
An all-time medal table for all Paralympic Games from 1960 to 2018. The International Paralympic Committee does not 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.This medal table also includes the medals won on the 1992 Summer Paralympics for Intelectualy Disabled,held in Madrid,who also organized by then International Coordenation Committee (ICC) and same Organzing Committee (COOB'92)who made the gestion of the 1992 Summer Paralympics held in Barcelona and also part of same event.But the results are not on the International Paralympic Committee 's (IPC) database.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 except for the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
Russia participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The 2018 Winter Paralympics, the 12th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that was held in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon Province, South Korea, from 9 to 18 March 2018. They were the second Paralympics to be held in South Korea, following the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul.
Canada has participated eleven times in the Summer Paralympic Games and in all Winter Paralympic Games. They first competed at the Summer Games in 1968 and the Winter Games in 1976.
Norway has participated in every edition of both the Summer and Winter Paralympics, except the second Summer Games in 1964. It was one of the seventeen countries to take part in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome, where it sent a delegation of eleven athletes. Norway was the host country of both the 1980 Winter Paralympics, in Geilo, and the 1994 Winter Paralympics, in Lillehammer.
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.
Sergey Valentinovich Shilov is a Russian cross-country skier, biathlete and six time Paralympic Champion.
Russian athletes competed as Neutral Paralympic Athletes at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, held between 9–18 March 2018. The Russian Paralympic Committee remains suspended from the Paralympic movement since 2016, due to the state-sponsored doping programme scandal, but the International Paralympic Committee allowed athletes deemed clean to participate in five sports. They participated under the Paralympic flag, and the Paralympic anthem was used during ceremonies for those who won gold medals.
Irina Polyakova is a former Russian female Paralympic cross-country skier and biathlete. She has competed at the Winter Paralympics in 1998, 2002, 2006 and in 2010 representing Russia. She was named as one of the most popular women by the BBC in its special multi format series, the 100 Women in 2015.
Mikhalina Anatolyevna Lysova is a Russian visually impaired cross-country skier and biathlete. She has represented Russia at the Paralympics in 2010 and in 2014 competing in the cross-country skiing and biathlon events. She progressed to become one of the most consistent Paralympics Nordic skiers of Russia as she claimed 16 medals in her Paralympic career including 6 gold medals. She was also the recipient of the Order ''For Merit to the Fatherland'' and Order of Friendship awards.
Valerii Redkozubov is a Russian male visually impaired Paralympic alpine skier. He has represented Russia at the Paralympics on 3 Winter Paralympic events in 2010, 2014 and 2018. He was the flagbearer for Russia during the 2014 Winter Paralympics as he led the Russian Paralympic delegation in its home nation at the opening ceremony of the event. He was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin in 2014 for his outstanding performance at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. Valerii Redkozubov was also awarded the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" in March 2018 by Vladimir Putin after his impressive Paralympic record during the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
Soviet Union (1988)
Unified Team (1992)
Neutral Paralympic Athletes (2018)
RPC (2022)