The Summer Paralympic Games or the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event, where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, organized by the International Paralympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that the Olympic Games started in 1904.
The United States and The United Kingdom have hosted two Summer Paralympic Games each, more than any other nation. Other countries that have hosted the summer Olympics are Australia, Canada, China, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain and West Germany. In the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Rio de Janeiro will host the first Summer Games in South America. No cities have hosted two Summer Paralympic Games.
Twelve countries — Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, United States — have been represented at all Summer Paralympic Games. Seven of those countries have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Paralympic Games: Australia, Austria, France, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, and the United States.
The United States have been the top-ranking nation for eight of the 13 Paralympic Summer Games: 1964, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. China have been the top-ranking nation for the three most recent Games, 2004, 2008 and 2012. Italy (1960), West Germany (1972) and Australia (2000) have been the top-ranking nation one time each.
Read more about Summer Paralympic Games: Qualification, History, Classification, List of Paralympic Sports, List of Summer Paralympic Games
Famous quotes containing the words summer and/or games:
“It is said that a carpenter building a summer hotel here ... declared that one very clear day he picked out a ship coming into Portland Harbor and could distinctly see that its cargo was West Indian rum. A county historian avers that it was probably an optical delusion, the result of looking so often through a glass in common use in those days.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“As long as lightly all their livelong sessions,
Like a yardful of schoolboys out at recess
Before their plays and games were organized,
They yelling mix tag, hide-and-seek, hopscotch,
And leapfrog in each other’s way all’s well.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)