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 disabilities. 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 1984 International Games for the Disabled, canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. There were two separate competitions: one in Stoke Mandeville, England, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes with spinal cord injuries and the other at the Mitchel Athletic Complex and Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, United States 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 the 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games in Rome in 1960 are now recognised as the first Summer Paralympics. 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. The Soviet Union did not participate in the Paralympics at the time, arguing that they have no disabled people in the country. The USSR made its Paralympic debut in 1988, during Perestroika.
Ukraine competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's third consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era. The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine sent the nation's largest ever delegation to these Games. A total of 240 athletes, 125 men and 115 women, took part in 21 sports. Women's handball was the only team-based sport in which Ukraine had its representation at these Games for the first time. There was only a single competitor in modern pentathlon and taekwondo.
Latvia competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's eighth appearance at the Summer Olympics.
The United States of America has sent many athletes to the celebration of the Olympic Games, starting with the first modern Olympics held in 1896. The United States has sent athletes to every Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.
Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practised by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair racing and the club throw, which are specific to the division. The sport is known by various names, including disability athletics, disabled track and field and Paralympic athletics. Top-level competitors may be called elite athletes with disability.
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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics competed for the only time at the Summer Paralympic Games in 1988. The country also competed for the only time at the Winter Paralympic Games that same year.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics made its Summer Paralympic début at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul. This was not only its first, but also its last appearance in the Summer Paralympics before its dissolution. The country participated only in athletics and swimming events. Soviet competitors won 56 medals, of which 21 gold.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 except for the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
Sergey Sevostianov,, sometimes Sergei Sevastianov, is a blind Paralympian track and field athlete from Russia competing in pentathlon and jumping events
Brazil made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg, sending representatives to compete in track and field, archery, swimming and wheelchair basketball. The country has competed in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since.
Lithuania, following its independence from the Soviet Union, made its Paralympic Games début at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, with a delegation of four athletes in track and field. This first delegation was notably successful, with all four athletes winning at least one medal, and female runner Sigita Kriaučiūnienė sweeping up four medals. Kriaučiūnienė was also part of Lithuania's two person delegation for its first participation in the Winter Paralympics, in 1994. Lithuania has taken part in every subsequent edition of the Summer Paralympics, but has not returned to the Winter Games since 1994.
Marathon events have been held at the Summer Paralympic Games, for both men and women, since the 1984 Summer Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville and New York City. They are held as part of the Paralympic athletics programme.
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.
Abel Ávila Rodríguez is a Paralympic athlete from Spain competing mainly in category T12 middle-distance events.
Cycling at the 2016 Summer Paralympics consisted of 50 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. The venues were the Rio Olympic Velodrome for track cycling in the Barra Cluster, and the Flamengo Park for the road cycling disciplines in the Copacapana Cluster. Seventeen events were contested on the track, and 33 on the road.
Ivanka Koleva is a Paralympian track and field athlete from Bulgaria competing mainly in throwing events in the T57 classification. Koleva has represented Bulgaria at four Summer Paralympics from 2000 to 2012, winning gold in the shot put in the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney. She was also world champion in the discus in 1994, and competed once as a powerlifter in the 2008 Summer Paralympics at Beijing.
Cycling at the 2020 Summer Paralympics took place in two separate locations. Track cycling took place at the Izu Velodrome from 25 to 28 August 2021 and road cycling took place on the Fuji Speedway from 31 August to 3 September 2021.
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.
Soviet Union 
Ukraine 
