Summer Paralympics

The 2012 Summer Paralympics, the fourteenth Summer Paralympic Games, and also more generally known as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, was a major international multi-sport event for the disabled governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that took place in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September. These Paralympics were one of the largest multi-sport events ever to held in the United Kingdom after the 2012 Summer Olympics, and were the largest Paralympics ever: 4,302 athletes from 164 National Paralympic Committees participated.

The games marked the return of the Paralympic movement to its spiritual birthplace: the British village of Stoke Mandeville first hosted an athletics event for disabled British veterans of theSecond World War to coincide with the opening of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Known as the Stoke Mandeville Games, they were the first-ever organised sporting event for disabled athletes, and served as a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games. Stoke Mandeville also co-hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics with Long Island, New York, after its original host, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, pulled out due to financial issues.

Organisers expected the Games to be the first Paralympics to achieve mass-market appeal, fuelled by continued enthusiasm from the British public following the country's successful performance at the Summer Olympics, awareness of the United Kingdom's role in the history of the Paralympics, and growing media coverage of Paralympic sport. The games ultimately met these expectations, breaking records for ticket sales, heightening the profile of the Paralympics in relation to the Olympics, and prompting IPC president Philip Craven to declare them the "greatest Paralympic Games ever."

^Conclusion

The Olympic Games are one of the most spectacular reminders of the debt we owe to the Greeks.

The Olympic idea means friendship, fraternity and cooperation among the people of the world. All wars and feuds were stopped by special heralds who rode in all directions of Greece. The Olympic Movement proves that real peace can be achieved through sport.

Thanks to Olympic games, wars became much less, after all people could compete and resolve disputes in sports meets. And after they have got completely sports interest.

In modern times the Olympic movement has become an enormous and expensive organisation, as well professional and competitive. Athletes train for years to take part in the Olympics and some countries spend much more than others on equipment and facilities. As well games it's controlled by the International Olympic Committee, which consists of members from all the participating countries.

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 935