1. The 2012 Summer
Paralympic Games will be the
fourteenth Paralympics an`d
will take place between 29
August and 9 September 2012.
The Games will be held in
London.
Summer Paralympic Games

2. Athletes with disabilities did compete in the
Olympic Games prior to the advent of the
Paralympics. The first athlete to do so was
American gymnast George Eyser in 1904, he
had one artificial leg. The first organized
athletic event for disabled athletes that
coincided with the Olympic Games took place
on the day of the opening of the 1948 Summer
Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The
first games were called the 1948 International
Wheelchair Games. The Paralympic Games
were designed to emphasize the participants'
athletic achievements, not their disability.

4. Wheelchair curling is a sport for
paraplegics. It is a sport that combines a
lot of skill and it takes a ton of strategy to
be a winner.
Wheelchair curling is the only Paralympics
sport that comprises teams made up of
both men and women on the same team.
The sport requires that the entrant must
have a disability to the lower half of the
body.

5. Sailing for athletes with a disability began to
develop as a competitive sport in the 1980s,
just over 10 years before it joined the
Paralympic programme. Mastery over ever-
changing conditions on open water requires
skill, tactics and nerve, all of which will be
essential for competitors in the Paralympic
Sailing events at London 2012.

6. Although its history dates back centuries,
Rowing only came of age as a competitive sport
in the last 200 years. Interest began to increase
after Oxford and Cambridge Universities began
their rivalry on the Thames in 1829, a rivalry
that continues today in the shape of the annual
Boat Race. The sport made its Paralympic
debut in Beijing – when Great Britain topped
the medal table – and looks set to offer plenty
of drama at London 2012.

7. Volleyball is open to athletes with a physical
disability and is performed from a seated position.
In sitting volleyball the court is smaller than the
standard court and has a lower net. In the sitting
games the only classification rule is that each team
may have only one player who fits the minimum
disability rule, which is that their disability prevents
them from competing on equal terms with able-
bodied athletes. The other players on the team must
demonstrate a higher level of disability.

8. Athletes are classified on a points system
similar to wheelchair basketball, with the
most severely disabled athlete being
graded at 0.5 points rising to 3.5 points.
Each team has four players and is
allowed a maximum of eight points on
the court at any one time.

10. The End