Parallel Sports

This is a relatively new page, and when I created it I chose the title very carefully. I could have called it The Paralympics, but there are just a few questions that refer to other events.

First of all:

In the term 'Paralympics', 'Para' is short for

Parallel

Wikipedia tells us that 'Although the name [Paralympics] was originally coined as a portmanteau combining "paraplegic" (due to its origins as games for people with spinal injuries) and "Olympic," the inclusion of other disability groups meant that this was no longer considered very accurate. The present formal explanation for the name is that it derives from the Greek preposition παρα, pará ("beside" or "alongside") and thus refers to a competition held in parallel with the Olympic Games. The Summer Games of 1988 held in Seoul was the first time the term "Paralympic" came into official use.'

The previous equivalent event, held in 1984 at Stoke Mandeville and New York, was officially entitled The International Games for the Disabled. Wikipedia refers to these as "canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics", and this ("1984 Summer Paralympics") is the title it uses for the relevant page. In other words, all previous equivalent events are now known as the Paralympics.

I came up with 'Parallel Sports' as the title for my page because I felt that the non–Paralympic events referred to on this page were parallel to other sports in the same way that the Paralympics are parallel to the Olympics.

Paralympics: UK medals

Great Britain has a very proud record in the Paralympics. We've never topped the medals table, but up to and including 2020 we've finished second on nine occasions, third four times, fourth once, and fifth twice. On all but two occasions, and at every one of the last twelve Paralympics, we've been the most successful European nation.

The USA finished sixth in 2012, leaving Great Britain as the only country that has finished in the top five in every Paralympics.

Paralympics: Britain's Best

Britain's three most successful Paralympians are:

Sport	Years				Total
Swimming	1992–2004	5	8	3	16		Sarah Storey
Cycling	2008–20	12			12
Total	1992–2020	17	8	3	28
Swimming	1976–88	16	2		18		Mike Kenny
Wheelchair athletics	1988–2004	11	4	1	16		Tanni Grey–Thompson

Sarah Storey

Year	Sport				Total
Barcelona 1992	Swimming	100m backstroke 200m individual medley	400m freestyle 4 x 100m freestyle 4 x 100m medley	100m freestyle	6
Atlanta 1996	Swimming	100m breaststroke 100m backstroke 200m individual medley	400m freestyle	100m freestyle	5
Sydney 2000	Swimming		100m backstroke 4 x 100m medley		2
Athens 2004	Swimming		100m breaststroke 200m individual medley	100m freestyle	3
Beijing 2008	Cycling	Time trial Individual pursuit			2
London 2012	Cycling	Individual pursuit 500m time trial Time trial Road race			4
Rio de Janeiro 2016	Cycling	Individual pursuit Time trial Road race			3
Tokyo 2020	Cycling	Individual pursuit Time trial Road race			3
Totals		17	8	3	28

Dame Sarah has also been a World champion 29 times (6 times in swimming and 23 times in cycling), a European champion 21 times (18 times in swimming and 3 times in cycling) and has held 75 world records.

Mike Kenny

Year			Total
Toronto 1976	25 metres backstroke 25 metres breaststroke 25 metres freestyle		3
Arnhem 1980	25 metres backstroke 25 metres breaststroke 25 metres freestyle		3
Stoke Mandeville / New York 1984	100 metres freestyle 25 metres backstroke 25 metres breaststroke 25 metres freestyle 3 x 25 metres individual medley	3 x 25 metres freestyle relay	6
Seoul 1988	100 metres freestyle 25 metres backstroke 25 metres breaststroke 25 metres freestyle 75 metres individual medley	3 x 25 metres freestyle relay	6
Totals	16	2	18

Tanni Grey–Thompson

Year				Total
Seoul 1988			400 metres	1
Barcelona 1992	100 metres 200 metres 400 metres 800 meters	4 x 100 metres relay		5
Atlanta 1996	800 metres	100 metres 200 metres 400 metres		4
Sydney 2000	100 metres 200 metres 400 metres 800 metres			4
Athens 2004	100 metres 400 metres			2
Totals	11	4	1	16

Invictus Games

First held in 2014, the Invictus Games were originally intended to be an annual event. They were not held in 2015, however, to allow time for the 2016 host city to plan and raise funds. The third Games were held in 2017, but since then the plan seems to have changed and they are now held biennially (pandemics permitting).

Host cities:

2014

London

2016

Orlando

2017

Toronto

2018

Sydney

The 2014 games were held at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The 2016 games were held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World.

The 2020 games were scheduled to be held in The Hague, but were twice postponed due to the COVID–19 pandemic. At the time of writing (September 2021) they were scheduled to be held in 2022 (29 May to 5 June). The games that were to originally due to take place in 2022 – in Dusseldorf – are currently scheduled to take place in 2023.

Other

The first English athlete to compete at the Paralympics and Commonwealth Games (Archery, 2010 – won a gold medal in the team event). Suffers from chronic pain in the feet		Danielle Brown
Won gold medals for Great Britain in both Athletics and Cycling, at the 2016 Paralympics; also won a silver and a bronze in Athletics		Kadeena Cox
Visually impaired British skier: with her guide Jennifer Kehoe, won four medals (gold in the slalom, two silver and one bronze) at the 2018 Winter Paralympics		Menna Fitzpatrick
Winner of Britain's first ever Winter Paralympic gold medal (Sochi, 2014: Women's super giant slalom, or Super–G, visually impaired); also the first Winter Paralympics competitor from Northern Ireland		Kelly Gallagher
International Paralympic–style multi–sport event for wounded armed services personnel – including wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball and indoor rowing; inspired by the Warrior Games, a similar event held in the United States, and named after a Latin epithet signifying the invincibility of the gods; first held in 2014 at the London Olympic Park; Prince Harry was President of the organising committee		Invictus Games
Great Britain's youngest competitor at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008, aged 13: won two swimming gold medals (100m and 400m freestyle); also won two golds at London 2012 (400m freestyle and 200m individual medley). Suffers from achondroplasia (a common form of dwarfism)		Ellie Simmonds
Intellectual disability basketball team stripped of the gold medal in the Sydney Paralympics, after it was discovered that ten of the twelve team members were not disabled		Spain
Hospital that includes the National Spinal Injuries Centre; pioneering rehabilitation work carried out there by Sir Ludwig Guttmann led to the development of the Paralympic Games.  The National Centre for Disability Sport – an extensive sports complex – is adjacent		Stoke Mandeville
Paralympic sport: invented 1976 in Canada; known in the USA as quad rugby; originally known as murderball; subject of a 2005 Oscar–nominated film of that title		Wheelchair rugby

© Haydn Thompson 2017–18