Stuff You May Not Have Known About the Paralympics

History

• The founding father of the Paralympics was Sir Ludwig Guttmann, who, in 1948, organized a sporting event for World War II veterans with spinal injuries in Stoke Mandeville, England.
  
• The first official Paralympic Games (where events took place in an Olympic format) was held in Rome, 1960. However, only wheelchair events were included.

• Though it hosted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, the Soviet Union refused to recognize the Paralympics. Two thousand five hundred Paralympians from 42 countries thus went to compete in Arnhem, Holland.
• After winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, it was discovered that only two of the Spanish Intellectually Disabled Basketball Squad were disabled. This scandal led to the ongoing suspension of intellectually disabled events from the Paralympics.
  
• Despite there being 50 broadcasters at the 2004 Paralympics, a record number, not one was from the United States. American viewers had to wait two months to watch coverage of the Games.

Disabilities

• There are six disability categories in the Paralympics: cerebral palsy (since 1984), amputee, visually impaired, wheelchair and Les Autres (French for “the others” – disabilities that do not fall under the previous categories, such as congenital deformities, MS, and dwarfism).
• Deaf athletes are ineligible for the Paralympics, instead they have their own Games, the Deaflympics, which are next being held in Taipei, 2009.

2008

• The official theme song of the 13th Paralympics – Fly Together with the Dream was sung by Andy Lau and Han Hong at last weekend's opening ceremony. Another song, Everyone is No. 1 – also sung by Andy Lau , has served as the official anthem of the Paralympic games. You can take a look at the official music video above .
  
• Peg-legged funiu Lele carries on the tradition of Paralympic mascots, which have included seahorse Proteas (Athens 2000) and a lizard named Lizzy (Sydney 2004).

World records

• Paralympic powerlifting world records exceed those of the able-bodied Games in four different weight categories.
• Chinese athletes broke 62 world records at the Chinese National Games for the Disabled in May 2007.
• Having already won three gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze, 19-year-old Chinese swimmer Wang Xiaofu holds five world records. He has already been dubbed as the Michael Phelps of the Paralymics. Great things are no doubt to be expected from him in Beijing.

Team China

• Four years ago, China won 141 medals (63 gold, 46 silver, 32 bronze), topping the final medal standings for this first time in the nation’s Paralympic history.
• For the first time, China will compete in all 20 Paralympic events, fielding 332 athletes.
• The youngest athlete at the last Paralympics was China’s Xu Qingqing, a swimmer of 11 years. The eldest was 66-year-old Canadian sailor David Williams.

Links and Sources
Star Daily: image of runner