A Brief History of Adaptive and Paralympic Sport Movement
Originally posted by Clayton Frech on his personal Facebook page.
Let the Games begin!
As the Tokyo Paralympic Games start today, I wanted to share a high-level history of the adaptive and Paralympic sports movement. Also, for daily news and updates on the Tokyo 2020, feel free to subscribe to the Angel City Sports email list, check the Angel City blog, and follow on social media! Lots of information coming your way! (Sources for this post are cited below.)
I have always loved history, even going back to junior high school and high school. And the history of adaptive sports is really cool, and should offer some perspective on and appreciation for what you are going to watch the next two weeks on NBC. This has not been a quick rise to prominence, but rather a labor of love going back over the last century or more. And honestly, there are so many incredible people along the way that have contributed to the movement, I simply won’t attempt to list them here. But being able to see what the Paralympic Games have become, I personally have a deep respect and appreciation for everyone that laid the foundation for us along the way.
After attending the Rio Paralympic Games with the LA2024 team (at the time we had not won the bid and shifted to 2028), I literally fell in love with the Paralympic Games. I promised myself I would not miss another Games the rest of my life (I am still deciding whether that promise includes the Winter Games, but you will see me at the future Summer Games for sure!).
Why do I love them so much? 1) The sports are GREAT to watch. 2) The athlete back stories are powerful. And 3) And, with your support and engagement, the Paralympic Games has the potential to change the world, erase negative stigmas, and to create a society where everyone feels they belong. What else could you ask for in a sporting event?
International Origins
So where and when did this movement really get started? The earliest known adaptive sports organizations actually got started in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. In 1888 the first Sport Club for the Deaf in Berlin, Germany was founded. In 1924 The International Silent Games was the first international competition for Deaf athletes (the Deaf, BTW, have their own Deaflympics). In 1932 the British Society of One-Armed Golfers was established. These are some of the earliest programs and organizations to start. But in the mid to late 1940’s, after WWII, things really started to pick-up.
In the mid-1940’s wheelchair sports were being developed simultaneously in Britain and the United States, in California and Massachusetts. Both efforts were to support the rehab of paralyzed WWII veterans. In 1946, the sport of Goaball, was developed specifically for blind WWII veterans by Austrian Hanz Lorrenzen and German Sett Reindle. Goalball is now played competitively in over 100 countries and is the most prestigious sport for blind athletes. An estimated 253M people goalball are blind or partially sighted. Then in 1948 the first collegiate wheelchair basketball program in the United States was developed at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (article). Illinois is still a powerhouse in adaptive sports, launching many Paralympic careers! There are some records indicating that sitting volleyball was first played in the mid 1940’s, although it was formally introduced in 1956 in the Netherlands.
The seed for the Paralympic movement was planted by German doctor and refugee Sir Ludwig Von Guttman when he took a new job at the Stoke Mandeville spinal cord rehab center in the UK. It’s hard to believe now, but when Guttman started working with SCI patients at Stoke Mandeville, WWII SCI patients were only expected to live about two years! Can you imagine? He had a radical approach – get them moving, playing, and doing sports. Dr. Guttman organized what was then called the Stoke Mandeville Games on 29 July 1948, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games. He hosted an archery competition for sixteen injured WWII veterans. It’s pretty impressive to think that this just started with a simple archery competition and now it is the 3rd largest sporting event in the world!
In 1956, Adaptive Sports USA was founded as the National Wheelchair Athletic Association (NWAA). Initially serving WWII veterans, the organization expanded over time to serve veterans, children, and adults with physical disabilities. This organization, which I used to be the board chair, merged in 2020 with another national organization, Disabled Sports USA, to create Move United. Also, in the 1950’s there was the development of amputee skiing which ultimately led to the creation of Disabled Sports USA in1968.
By 1960 the Stoke Mandeville Games had become the Paralympic Games. That year the Games were held in Rome and featured 400 athletes from 23 countries competing in eight different sports, including archery, athletics, dartchery, snooker, swimming, table tennis, fencing, and basketball. The Paralympic Games have been held every four years since then.
A few milestones since 1960:
- 1976 - the first Winter Games in Paralympics history were held in Sweden, taking place every four years from then on.
- 1984 – Historic Moment in the US when we held a WC racing exhibition at the US. In fact, Angel City Sports mentor and coach, Candace Cable, raced in this race and won a bronze medal!
- 1988 - Since Seoul 1988 and the 1992 Winter Games in France, the Olympic and Paralympic Games have taken part in the same cities and venues.
- 1989 - On 22 September 1989, the International Paralympic Committee was founded in Germany, to be the governing body for the Paralympic Movement. Side note: Most people think the Paralympics are for paraplegics. They certainly are for paraplegics, and many others… but the word “Paralympic” actually comes from the Greek preposition “para” which means beside or alongside. Thus, the intention is that Paralympics are the parallel Games to the Olympics.
- 1996 – The US hosted the Atlanta Paralympic Games. In an emotional and historic moment, Angel City Sports friend John Siciliano, had his leg fell off in the 100M and hopped to the finish line.
- 2001 - The US Olympic Committee USOC) formalizes the Paralympic Committee as U.S. Paralympics.
- 2013 – Angel City Sports was founded, the idea born on the track and the wonderful event, the Endeavor Games, held in Oklahoma. My idea was, it’s too much time, expense, and trouble to travel across the country for most people. Let’s build something for everyone on the West Coast!
- 2018 - Team USA equalized Medal Payments between the Olympic and Paralympics.
- 2019 – The USOC is renamed USOPC on June 20, 2019, adding the word Paralympics to the official name. For me, this was a surprisingly important moment. It gives me more energy and power to correct people that use the Olympics in describing the Paralympics. Fortunately, I feel I am correcting people less and less!
- 2020 – The US Olympic and Paralympic Museum is open!
And here we are on day 1 of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games with 1,200 hours of programming on NBC!!! Let’s do this!!!!
Apologies if I missed any key event or milestone! I did my best to get things in here that I thought were relevant and interesting!
Clayton
Angel City Sports Team Ezra Paralympic Games Team USA Move United Sport National Wheelchair Basketball Association
Sources:
- https://www.paralympic.org/ipc/history
- https://www.insidethegames.biz/.../the-history-of-the...
- https://en.wikipedia.org/.../United_States_Olympic_%26...
- https://ebrary.net/7458/health/adaptive_sports_recreation
- https://www.nwba.org/history
- https://archive.triblive.com/.../springdale-high-school.../
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