Paralympics: History, India’s medals, contingent and more – all you need to know about Paris 2024

After a two-week break, Paris once again readies itself to host the best athletes in the world with the 2024 Paralympic Games set to get underway on Wednesday. The quadrennial event will take place from August 28 to September 8.

A total of 18 of the 35 venues used for the Olympics will be used for the Paralympics with more than 4,400 athletes set to compete in 549 events across 22 sports.

History of the Paralympics

The term Paralympics indicates an event taking place in parallel with the Olympics.

The idea of an athletic event for people with disabilities came up after the second World War in England. Sir Ludwigg Guttmann, a neurologist who fled to England from Nazi Germany before the war is credited with the founding of organised sports for people with physical disablities.

While working as a neurologist at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Guttmann organised the Stoke Mandeville Games for war veterans at the hospital to coincide with the 1948 London Olympics.

The first Paralympics were held in Rome 1960. In 2001, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee signed an agreement that ensured that cities who bid to host the Olympic Games would also be mandated to hold the Paralympic Games.Read more