When we think of the Paralympics we think of individuals who
were born with an impairment; contracted some illness later; or
were unfortunate enough to have an accident. There's another
breed of heroes that make up the Paralympics - the victims of
war.
What is now the Games as we know it was first organised by
Ludwig Guttmann in 1948 for British soldiers maimed during WWII.
Here is an extract from Wikipedia:
Sir Ludwig "Poppa" Guttmann (July 3, 1899 in Toszek
(Poland) - March 18, 1980) was a German-born neurologist who
founded the Paralympics and is considered one of the
founding fathers of organized physical activities for the
disabled.
One of the leading pre-World War II neurologists in
Germany, Guttmann worked at the Jewish Hospital in Breslau
until 1939, when he was forced to flee to England. In 1944,
Guttmann was asked by the British government to found the
National Spinal Injuries Centre in Stoke Mandeville near
London, at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He was appointed
the position of director at the Centre, a position he held
until 1966. As director, he believed sport was a method of
therapy, using it to help build physical strength and
self-respect. By 1952, Guttmann's Stoke Mandeville Games for
the disabled had grown to over 130 international
competitors, and it continued to grow, impressing Olympics
officials and the international community. In 1956, Guttmann
was awarded the Fearnley Cup, an award for outstanding
contribution to the Olympic ideal. Starting in 1960 in Rome
and continuing to today, the Paralympic Games are held after
the Olympic Games, often in the same city. In 1960 Guttmann
also founded the British Sports Association of the Disabled.
Guttmann received Great Britain's OBE and CBE and was
honored worldwide.
The Beijing Paralympics included more athletes with
war injuries than in recent years. Just the Iraqi team had a
staggering 12
war victims in their squad of twenty.
