Iran
NPC, Tehran:
As we reach the one month to go until
Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and on the occasion of the 76th Birth Anniversary
of International Paralympic Movement, the National Paralympic Committee of Iran
praises all the efforts undertaken by the International Paralympic Committee
(IPC) to overcome the challenges, expand the Movement all over the world, and
to give sporting opportunities to the athletes with disabilities of the entire
world to make their Paralympic dreams come true.
PARALYMPICS HISTORY: 76 Years from 1948 Rehabilitation
Wheelchair Archery Match to an Inspiring Movement
Dr. Ludwig Guttmann was a respected Jewish neurosurgeon who had been forced to flee his homeland of Germany in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution. Five years later, he was asked by the British government to open a Spinal Injuries Unit at Stoke Mandeville, intended to treat soldiers and civilians injured during the war. As part of his treatment for the injured veterans, Guttmann promoted sport as a means of physical and mental rehabilitation.
During the 1940s a large number of
veterans and civilians were suffering due to their mental and physical injuries
as the long-term effects of World War II.
In 1944, at the request of the
British Government, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann opened a spinal injuries centre at the
Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Great Britain, and in time, rehabilitation sport
evolved to recreational sport and then to competitive sport.
It started in 1948, as a
rehabilitation sport competition and became Paralympic Games. The most
transformative events on the Earth.
On 29 July 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttman
created the first tournament for wheelchair athletes at Stoke Mandevillle
Hospital. He couldn't imagine that in 1960, it would become the first
Paralympic Games in Rome.
The event was held to coincide with
the Opening Ceremony of the 1948 Olympic Games in London.
It was the first steps of the
Movement that goes beyond the sport. It's about inclusion, diversity and a more
equal world to everyone. And Paralympic World Family believe this change starts
with sport.
The Stoke Mandeville Games later
became the Paralympic Games, which first took place in Rome, Italy, in 1960
featuring 400 athletes from 23 countries.
In 1976 the first Winter Games in
Paralympics history were held in Sweden, and as with the Summer Games, have
taken place every four years, and include a Paralympics Opening Ceremony and
Paralympics Closing Ceremony.
The International Paralympic
Committee was founded in 1989 in Dusseldorf, Germany, to act as the global
governing body of the Paralympic Movement.