The disabled games olympics

This means that cities looking to host the Olympic Games automatically have to include the Paralympics as part of their bid. Since the Salt Lake City Games, one organising committee has been responsible for hosting both the Olympic and the Paralympic Games. Athletes from both Games live in the same village and enjoy the same catering services, medical care and facilities.

Ticketing, technology and transport systems for the Olympic Games are seamlessly extended to the Paralympics. The Rio Paralympics attracted 4, athletes from countries, who competed in 22 sports. An Independent Paralympic Athletes team featuring two refugee athletes also took part. The Games attracted a record cumulative TV audience of 4. Ahead of the Games, the city of Rio invested in improving infrastructure so that it was accessible for the Paralympics and future generations.

This included making tourist destinations accessible for all and the development of the Bus Rapid Transport system, which enables residents and visitors of all abilities to get around the city. At the Helsinki Olympics—the first time women were allowed to compete in the equestrian dressage event—she and her horse Jubilee placed second, narrowly losing out to Henri Saint Cyr of Sweden. Four years later, Hartel picked up a second silver, once again falling just short to Saint Cyr. Flags of the olympic nations.

Paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident, New Zealand archer Neroli Fairhall competed from a wheelchair, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games and then coming in 35th at the Los Angeles Olympics. Several other wheelchair-bound athletes have since followed her lead, including Sonia Vettenburg, a Belgian pistol shooter at the Barcelona Olympics; Paola Fantato, an Italian archer at the Atlanta Olympics; and Zahra Nemati, the Iranian archer who will be in Rio.

Jeff Float right and the American meter freestyle relay team receive the gold medal at the Olympics. Jim Abbott during a game in the Pan American Games. Though born without a right hand, pitcher Jim Abbott was chosen to represent the U. In the final game of the demonstration tournament—baseball would not become an official Olympic sport until four years later—he propelled his side to gold, hurling all nine innings in a victory over Japan. From there, Abbott went on to have a year career in the major leagues, compiling 87 wins and a 4.

He even showed some skill with the bat, lining a triple during a spring training game and going 2-for during his one season in the National League. Marla Runyan at the U. Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Rendered legally blind by Stargardt disease, which causes gradual degeneration of the retinas, U. Runyan returned for the Athens Olympics, this time participating in the 5,meter race, and then capped her career with a first-place finish at the Twin Cities Marathon.

Natalie du Toit competes at the London Paralympic Games. At age 17, having just missed qualifying for the Olympics, South African swimmer Natalie du Toit was struck by a car as she rode her motorbike from practice to school. Visually impaired runner Marla Runyan from the USA she is legally blind competed at the and Paralympics, and then at the and Olympic Games. In Sydney she finished eighth in the 1,m.

Australian Frank Bartolillo is profoundly deaf, and competed in fencing at the Athens Olympics. He competed in the individual foil event. He claimed that being deaf was an advantage as it enabled him to better concentrate.

He won Olympic gold in the team competition in and , and bronze in Catchings was born with a hearing impairment and wore a hearing aid as a young girl. She played in the US women's basketball team which won four Olympic gold medals - , , , and In , South African amputee Natalie du Toit competed in the open water 10km swim, in which she came 16th.

Her left leg was amputated at the knee after she was hit by a car when she was She swims without the aid of a prosthetic limb. She carried the flag at the Summer Olympics opening ceremony, making her the first athlete to carry a flag in both the Olympics and Paralympics in a single year. Polish table tennis player Natalia Partyka was one of two athletes to compete at the Summer Paralympics and Olympics in Beijing the other was Natalie du Toit.

Partyka was born without a right hand and forearm. Therefore the referees nod to him in addition to the whistle so that he can recognize the signal. South African Oscar Pistorius aka the 'Blade Runner' , became the first double amputee to take part in both the Olympics and Paralympics.

He competed in the m and 4 x m relay races at the Olympics, running on his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs. He had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, after being born without fibulas and with deformities of his feet.

See profile. She was making her Olympic Games debut, though four years earlier she became the first woman from Iran to win a Paralympic gold medal. The wheelchair-bound Nemati was paralyzed after a car accident as a teenager.