The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games are a multi-sport competition for athletes with a disability, which under the former name of the International Stoke Mandeville Games were the forerunner of the Paralympic Games. The competition has been formerly known as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, the Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games, the Stoke Mandeville Games, the World Wheelchair Games, and in the 1960s and 1970s was often referred to as the Wheelchair Olympics.
Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located 3 miles (4.9km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil parish, the village falls within the Aylesbury Urban Area. According to the Census Report the area of this parish is 1,460 acres (5.9 km2).
The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. They were in fact two separate competitions – one in Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes with spinal cord injuries and the other at the Mitchel Athletic Complex and Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, United States of America for wheelchair and ambulatory athletes with cerebral palsy, amputees, and les autres [the others]. Stoke Mandeville had been the location of the Stoke Mandeville Games from 1948 onwards, seen as the precursors to the Paralympic Games. As with the 1984 Summer Olympics, the Soviet Union and other communist countries except China, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia boycotted the Paralympic Games.
Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a large National Health Service (NHS) hospital in Aylesbury, England. It is managed by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
Sir Ludwig "Poppa" Guttmann was a German-born British neurologist who established the Paralympic Games in England. The Jewish doctor, who had fled Nazi Germany just before the start of the Second World War, is considered to be one of the founding fathers of organised physical activities for people with a disability.
WheelPower is the national organisation for wheelchair sports in the United Kingdom, and aims to help people with disabilities improve their quality of life.
Sweden first competed at the Paralympic Games in 1960, at the 1960 Summer Paralympics. Sweden first won a medal at the Paralympics in 1964, at the Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Great Britain was the co-host of the 1984 Summer Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom and New York City, United States. It was represented by 227 athletes competing in archery, athletics, boccia, cycling, equestrian, football, lawn bowls, powerlifting, shooting, snooker, swimming, table tennis, volleyball, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair fencing. It finished second in the overall medal count, with a total of 331 medals.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has participated in every Summer and Winter Paralympic Games.
Margaret Maughan is a British former competitive archer. She was Britain's first gold medallist at the Paralympic Games. She lit the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium (London) at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, competing as Great Britain, participated in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome. The 1960 Paralympics, now considered to have been the first Paralympic Games, were initially known as the ninth Stoke Mandeville Games, Games for athletes with disabilities founded in Great Britain in 1948.
The 2012 Summer Paralympics torch relay ran from 22 to 29 August 2012, prior to the 2012 Summer Paralympics. The relay began with four flames kindled on the highest peaks of the four nations of the United Kingdom, which were then brought to their respective capital cities for special events honouring the upcoming Games. For the relay proper, the four national flames were united at a ceremony in Stoke Mandeville in preparation for a final 92-mile (148-kilometre) journey to London.
Stoke Mandeville Stadium is the National Centre for Disability Sport in England. It is sited alongside Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. Stoke Mandeville Stadium is owned by WheelPower, the national organisation for wheelchair sport.
The 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games, later known as the 1964 Summer Paralympics, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan, from November 3 to 12, 1964, in which paraplegic and tetraplegic athletes competed against one another. The Stoke Mandeville Games were a forerunner to the Paralympics first organized by Sir Ludwig Guttmann in 1948. This medal table ranks the competing National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) by the number of gold medals won by their athletes.
Ireland participated in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome, Italy. The 1960 Paralympics, now considered to have been the first Paralympic Games, were initially known as the ninth Stoke Mandeville Games, Games for athletes with disabilities founded in Great Britain in 1948.
Gwen Buck BEM was a British Paralympic athlete who competed in several sporting disciplines. She won gold medals in table tennis, lawn bowls, and swimming, and entered several athletics events across four Paralympic Games.
The Cerebral Palsy Games are a multi-sport competition for athletes with a disability, which under the former name of the International Stoke Mandeville Games were the forerunner of the Paralympic Games. The competition has been formerly known as the International Cerebral Palsy Games or the Stoke Mandeville Games. Since the 1990s the Games are organized by the organisation Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA), so they called also CPISRA World Games.
Joan Scruton was an organizing member of the International Stoke Mandeville Games from 1958 to 1968, which became the Paralympic Games in 1960. Scruton was secretary general at the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation from 1975 to 1982 and she was awarded the Paralympic Order in 1999.
