How Paralympics Was Born!

2018 Winter Paralympics was the 12th Paralympic Winter Games that happened and it was more generally regarded as the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, the games are an international multi-sport event for such athletes who are governed by the disabilities and are look over by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that earlier took place in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon Province, South Korea, between 9 to 18 March, 2018. They were recorded as the second Paralympics which is held in South Korea, and follows the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul.

569 athletes are there who are representing 49 National Paralympic Committees who participated in these Games, including the newcomers Georgia, North Korea and also Tajikistan. After following its debut as the disciplines under the Alpine programme in Sochi, snowboarding was further expanded into a separate sport with some additional competitions.

It was for the second time that the United States topped in the medal table with a total of 36 medals and 13 gold medals. Host nation South Korea was placed 16th with a total of 3 medals and won its first ever gold and first bronze at the Winter Paralympics.

The concept of winter Paralympics started in 1948 when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised his sports competition that involved World War II veterans with an injury related to spinal cord in Stoke Mandeville, England. Four years later, there were competitors from Holland who joined the Games, and the international movement, now was known as the Paralympic Movement.

In overall the Olympic-style games for the athletes with some disability were commenced for the first time in Rome in the year 1960. In Toronto in the year 1976, other groups with disability were added and the idea of merging together all other array of different disability groups for international sports competitions was then born. In the same year, commencement of the first Paralympic Winter Games took place in Sweden.

By: Prerana Sharma

Content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Winter_Paralympics