It’s been two weeks since the Olympics ended, but many of us are still thinking about some of the unforgettable sporting feats we witnessed.
After all, we have starved of the competition for a year thanks to COVID-19.
Well, if you’re still hungry for some competitive sporting action, I may have just the thing for you.
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Starts Tomorrow
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will kick off tomorrow (24 Aug) in the city of Tokyo, Japan.
Held until 5 Sep, it will feature 539 events across 22 sports hosted at 21 venues.
For the first time ever, badminton and taekwondo events will be included in the competition.
The Opening Ceremony will take place at 7 pm local time.
A Celebration of Skill & Perseverance
For those who don’t know, the Paralympics is a major international sporting competition featuring athletes with a range of disabilities.
This includes:
- impaired muscle power, such as paraplegia, quadriplegia, and muscular dystrophy
- impaired passive range of movement
- limb deficiency, such as an amputation
- short stature
- leg length difference
- vision impairment
- intellectual impairment
The word “Paralympics” is a portmanteau of the Greek preposition “para” – meaning beside or along – and “Olympics”.
According to its website, the Paralympics was founded by Dr Ludwig Guttmann, a Jewish doctor who had fled Nazi Germany.
In 1944, at the request of the British Government, Dr Guttmann opened a spinal injuries centre at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Great Britain, and over time, the rehabilitative sport evolved to recreational sport and then to competitive sport.
The first Paralympic Games took place in Rome, Italy, in 1960, featuring 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since then they have taken place every four years.
Since the Summer Games of Seoul, Korea, in 1988 and the Winter Games in France in 1992, the Paralympics have also been held in the same cities and venues as the Olympics.
Key Dates
All sporting events will draw interest from viewers around the world, but there are a few which always prove to be of particular interest.
The athletics events, for instance, will be held from 26 Aug to 4 Sep, while swimming events will take place from tomorrow to 3 Sep.
Do check out the badminton and taekwondo events, as this will be the first time in Paralympics history where shuttlers and taekwondo practitioners battle it out for a gold medal.
The wheelchair basketball events will be held from tomorrow to 4 Sep, while viewers can catch the exciting football 5-a-side matches from 28 Aug to 4 Sep.
Tap here for the full Paralympics schedule.
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Featured Image: FocusDzign/shutterstock.com
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