Paralympics in London
We are expecting something spectacular after the warm up of The Olympics and London 2012!And I know we won’t be disappointed!
History of the Paralympic Games
Getset London tell us that “in 1944, a doctor, Sir Ludwig Guttmann, was working with war veterans with spinal injuries when he started to think about using sport to help them. He was convinced that making them more active would help re-motivate them after serious injury.
So, at the same time as the London Olympic Games in 1948, he organised the first wheelchair Games at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. Four years later international competitors started to come to the event and interest grew. By 1984, more than 1,000 athletes from 41 countries were competing in 14 sports.
Over time, the Games gained the official title of the Paralympic Games and were staged to coincide with the Olympic Games in Rome and Tokyo. Now, the Paralympic Games always happen in the same year as the Olympic Games, but it is only since 1988 that they have also used the same venues, such as stadia and other facilities.”
Paralympic Games comes home
The 12-day event is set to be a sell-out for the first time in its 52-year history. Of course this brings the ticket shenanigans that we heard about over the Olympics – some 2.2million tickets of the 2.5million available have already been sold and, with 100,000 being held back until after the games begin, spaces are fast running out.
British Paralympic Association Chief Executive Phil Lane said:
“The UK is passionate about Paralympic sport. The movement was born here, at Stoke Mandeville, so it feels as if the Paralympic Games are coming home.”
Channel 4 will be providing wall to wall TV coverage which will be shown during the 12 days of the event – As the London Paralympics host broadcaster, Channel 4 intend to provide multiple television and online channels dedicated to showing each event.
Will you be watching the Paralympic games?
