Major Multi-sports Games

The Paralympic Games is the largest international event for disabled athletes and it is held in the same style as the Olympic Games.

The Paralympic Games are held on a four yearly cycle for both the summer and winter games. The Paralympic Games are held immediately following their respective Olympic Games, in the same host city and venues as the Olympic Games.

The Paralympic Games began in 1948 by Sir Ludwig Guttmann who wanted to start a sport that involved the veterans from World War II. On 29 July 1948, the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, the first organised competition for wheelchair athletes was founded. The event was called the Stoke Mandeville Games and included 16 injured service men and women who took part in the sport of Para archery.

The Games were later renamed the International Stoke Mandeville Games in 1952 when Dutch ex-servicemen joined in the event. The first official Paralympic Games were in Rome in 1960 and featured eight sports. The term “Paralympic Games“ derives its name from the fact that the Games are held in ‘parallel’ directly after the Olympic Games.

Sport for rehabilitation grew into recreational sport and then into competitive sport. In 1948, the Stoke Mandeville Games were organised for the first time as a sports competition for wheelchair athletes. They featured 16 individuals (14 men and two women) competing in Para archery. This was the origin of what evolved into the modern Paralympic Games, which today attracts over 4,400 athletes with physical, vision and intellectual impairments.

For LA28 Paralympic Games there are 23 sports and for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games there are six sports.

There are six sports in the Paralympic Winter Games: Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross country skiing, Para ice hockey, Para snowboard and wheelchair curling.

The Paralympic sports of boccia and goalball do not have an Olympic equivalent.

Para athletics is the largest sport within the Paralympic Movement in terms of the number of competing athletes, medal events and countries.

Para badminton and Para taekwondo made their debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games and are the two newest sports to have been showcased at a Paralympic Games. For LA28, Para climbing will make its Paralympic debut.

Para archery, Para athletics, Para dartchery, Para snooker, Para swimming, Para table tennis, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair fencing are the oldest Paralympic sport. These eight sports made up the sports programme of Rome 1960, the first modern Paralympic Games.

The Asian Para Games are organized by the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC), a regional organization of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and have 45 participating countries or regions. The Asian Para Games are a comprehensive sports competition for people with disabilities held to promote the Paralympic Movement(*) and further develop competitive sports in the Asian region.

The Asian Para Games held every four years after every Asian Games.

The Asian Para Games are a comprehensive sports competition for people with disabilities in the Asian region, succeeding the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled (FESPIC), which began in 1975.