Sports for Athletes Disabilities

The evolution of sports for people with disabilities began after World War II, which brought significant increases in service-connected injuries such as paraplegia, quadriplegia, and amputation. Therapists and physicians in many countries use vigorous physical and recreational activities as integral parts of rehabilitation. Sport integrates the individual into society and helps to enhance self-esteem. Today, sport for the disabled is a means for athletes with disabilities to attain a high level of physical fitness and compete with fellow athletes from all over the world. The sports also help counter the still-common view that athletes with disabilities are not “real” athletes. Sport shifts the focus from the athlete’s disability to his or her ability. The Paralympics are for athletes with physical and sensorial disabilities (in contrast to the Special Olympics, which serve mentally retarded youth and adults). Physical disabilities include spinal cord injuries, amputations, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other conditions, such as arthritis, osteogenesis imperfecta, and dwarfism. Many countries have national research and training centers to provide the optimal environment, facilities, and equipment for athletes with disabilities to training for their specific sports.

History

The oldest international organization on sport for persons with disabilities is the Comité International des Sports des Sourds (Committee International on Silent Sports [CISS]). It was founded in 1924 in conjunction with the first international competition for athletes with disabilities, the World Games for the Deaf in Paris. In conjunction with this event, CISS has conducted Summer World Games every four years since 1924 and Winter World Games since 1949.

In 1944 the National Spinal Injuries Centre of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, England, was founded.Wheelchair sports were included as part of the rehabilitation process of war veterans. Ludwig Guttmann introduced England’s first organized wheelchair sports program on the front lawn of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1948.Those activities are known as the Stoke Mandeville Games. Guttmann expanded these games to include bowling, table tennis, and field events in which wheelchair athletes competed. After 1960,weightlifting, fencing, and swimming were added. In 1958, following the first National Wheelchair Games held in the United States, the National Wheelchair Association (now called Wheelchair Sports, USA) was organized to establish rules and regulations governing all wheelchair sports except basketball, which was governed by the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, founded in 1949. During this same period Guttmann founded the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), which governed the international games.

In 1960 the First International Games for Disabled of an Olympic nature were held in Rome for spinally paralyzed athletes under the auspices of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation. This marked the beginning of the Olympics for the Disabled, which were held every fourth year in the same country (if possible) as the Olympic Games from 1960 through 1980. After 1980, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) requested that disabled athletes no longer use the term Olympics, and the games continued under the name Paralympics.

In 1968, Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded Special Olympics to help erase misconceptions about people with mental retardation. Special Olympics was established to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with mental retardation.It is founded on the belief that people with mental retardation can, with proper instruction and encouragement, learn, enjoy,and benefit from participation in individual and team sports, adapted as necessary to meet their needs. Sports training and competition is offered in 23 Olympic-type sports (summer sports, winter sports, and demonstration sports) open to anyone ages eight and up. The number of sports for the disabled increased slowly.While basketball, swimming, and archery have been practiced by athletes with disabilities for a number of years, only recently have such sports as tennis, wheelchair rugby (murder ball), volleyball, and winter skiing become popular. These changes occurred following pressure from athletes, coaches, and scientists. In 1984, for the first time in Olympic history, at the Los Angeles Olympics, two wheelchair races were included as demonstration events. The aim of such demonstration events is to integrate sports for athletes with disabilities into the international sports movement, while preserving the identity of sports for disabled athletes. Sixteen wheelchair athletes representing eight countries competed. The women’s wheelchair 800-meter (875-yard) race was won by Sharon Rahn Hedrick of the United States with a time of 2:15.50. The men’s wheelchair 1500-meter (1604-yard) race was won by Paul Van Winkle of Belgium with a time of 3:58.50, as over 90,000 cheering fans yelled their appreciation. In 1988 the Paralympics were held in Seoul, Korea, following the Olympics. Over 4,000 athletes from 60 countries participated in the Seoul Paralympics. Three hundred and seventy world records were set, in addition to over 600 Paralympic records.For the first time in the history of disabled sports, athletes with disabilities were selected for participation in IOC drug testing. Athletes were screened under the same procedures in place for able-bodied competitors.

Special sports included Goalball (for blind and visually impaired athletes), which uses a 5-pound (2.3-kilogram) ball with bells in it hurled by three members of each team into the opponent’s goal. Guide runners assisted blind and visually impaired runners in competing in track events. Tandem biking allowed blind and visually impaired athletes to team with sighted riders to compete in cycling. Other sports included judo, swimming, table tennis,wheelchair tennis,weight lifting, wheelchair basketball, sitting and standing volleyball for athletes with amputations, boccia, fencing, and equestrian events.

The 1992 Paralympic logo,“Sports Without Limits,” was designed to express the effort to create full social integration of people with disabilities through participation in sporting events. An estimated 60,000 spectators and millions of television viewers witnessed the opening ceremony, when Spanish Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo shot a flaming arrow across the length of the stadium and lit the Olympic flame. Sixty-two countries were represented by approximately 3,000 athletes competing in 16 sports over a 14-day period. Such numbers represent the progress of athletes with disabilities worldwide. The United States won a total of 176 medals (76 gold),with Germany second (171 total;61 gold), followed by Great Britain.

Over 7,000 athletes representing 140 countries converged on New Haven, Connecticut, to participate in the 1995 Special Olympics World Games. The Olympic torch was delivered from Athens,Greece, to the opening ceremonies at the Yale Bowl. U.S. President Bill Clinton took part in the ceremony and television networks covered the games. For the first time the World Games included a marathon.

These games showcased the abundance of sports and recreation opportunities now available for individuals with mental retardation. One of the most notable is Special Olympics Unified Sports, a program that combines, on the same team, athletes with and without mental retardation. The aim of Special Olympics Unified Sports is to provide Special Olympics athletes the opportunity for meaningful training and competition with nondisabled teammates. Unified Sports has been especially successful in schools,where they help bridge the gap between students without disabilities and their special education peers.

Outlook

The 1996 Atlanta Paralympics, held immediately after the 1996 Summer Olympics,may have been to the disabled sports movement what Los Angeles 1984 was to the Olympic movement in the United States—bringing media attention, awareness, and sponsorship to the Games and providing a funding base for disabled sports.The Atlanta Paralympics brought together nearly 4,000 elite athletes with physical or visual impairments, representing over 100 nations.Athletes competed in 19 sports, 14 of which were Olympic sports. In 1984 Claudine Sherrill wrote,“The ultimate athlete can be anyone, disabled or able-bodied, who demonstrates the capacity to dream, the unwavering intent to be the best, and the willingness to pay the price of long, hard and strenuous training.”