Editing Paralympic Games (section)

== Forerunners ==
[[File:RUSMARKA-1777.jpg|thumb|right|Sir [[Ludwig Guttmann]]]]

=== Athletes with disabilities at the Olympic Games ===
Athletes with disabilities did compete at the Olympic Games prior to the advent of the Paralympics. The first athlete to do so was [[German American|German-American]] gymnast [[George Eyser]] in [[1904 Summer Olympics|1904]], who had one artificial leg. [[Olivér Halassy]], a Hungarian amputee water polo player, competed in three successive Olympic Games, beginning in [[1928 Summer Olympics|1928]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-12-03 |title=Olivér Halassy Bio, Stats, and Results {{!}} Olympics at Sports-Reference.com |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/oliver-halassy-1.html |access-date=2023-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203073110/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/oliver-halassy-1.html |archive-date=2016-12-03 }}</ref> [[Hungary at the 1948 Summer Olympics|Hungarian]] [[Károly Takács]] competed in shooting events in both the [[1948 Summer Olympics|1948]] and [[1952 Summer Olympics|1952]] Summer Olympics. He was a right-arm [[Amputation|amputee]] and could shoot left-handed. Another athlete with a disability who appeared in the Olympics prior to the Paralympic Games was [[Lis Hartel]], a [[Denmark at the 1952 Summer Olympics|Danish]] equestrian athlete who had contracted polio in 1943 and won a silver medal in the [[Equestrian at the 1952 Summer Olympics|dressage]] event in the [[1952 Summer Olympics]].<ref>DePauw and Gavron (2005), p. 38</ref>

=== Stoke Mandeville Games ===
The first organized athletic event for athletes with disabilities that coincided with the Olympic Games took place on the day of the opening of the [[1948 Summer Olympics]] in London. The [[German Jews|German-Jewish]] doctor [[Ludwig Guttmann]], of [[Stoke Mandeville Hospital]],<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.accessibleportugal.com/revista/2008/Setembro/capa1.html | title=Paralympics History | author=Correia, Susana | work=Accessible Portugal Online Magazine | date=February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206205816/http://www.accessibleportugal.com/revista/2008/Setembro/capa1.html | archive-date=February 6, 2009}}</ref> who had fled [[Nazi Germany]] with the help of the [[Council for Assisting Refugee Academics]] (CARA) in 1939,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/modern/spsl/spsl.html#spsl.A |title=SPSL Archive |publisher=Rsl.ox.ac.uk |date=1933-12-24 |access-date=2012-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828224203/http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/modern/spsl/spsl.html#spsl.A#spsl.A |archive-date=2012-08-28 |url-status=live }}</ref> hosted a sports competition for British World War II veteran patients with spinal cord injuries. The first games were called the [[World Wheelchair and Amputee Games|1948 International Wheelchair Games]], and were intended to coincide with the 1948 Olympics.<ref name=history>{{cite web|title=History of the Paralympic Movement |publisher=Canadian Paralympic Committee |url=http://www.paralympiceducation.ca/Content/History/11%20History%20of%20the%20Paralympics.asp?langid=1 |access-date=2010-04-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802152653/http://www.paralympiceducation.ca/Content/History/11%20History%20of%20the%20Paralympics.asp?langid=1 |archive-date=August 2, 2009 }}</ref> Guttman's aim was to create an elite sports competition for people with disabilities that would be equivalent to the Olympic Games. The games were held at the same location each year, and in 1952 [[Netherlands|Dutch]] and [[Israel]]i veterans took part alongside the British, making it the first international competition of its own kind. In 1960, the 9th annual games took place outside of the UK for the first time in [[Rome]], to coincide with the [[1960 Summer Olympics]] which were also being held in Rome. These were to be later designated the [[1960 Summer Paralympics|1st Paralympic Games]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rome 1960 |url=https://www.paralympic.org/rome-1960 |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=International Paralympic Committee |language=en}}</ref>

These early competitions have been described as the precursors of the Paralympic Games, and Stoke Mandeville holds a similar place in the history of the Paralympic movement as Greece holds in the Olympic Games; since 2012, the Paralympic flame has incorporated a "heritage flame" lit at Stoke Mandeville, although it was combined with flames lit in the host country for the formal start of the torch relay. Beginning in [[2024 Summer Paralympics|2024]], future Paralympic torch relays will officially begin in Stoke Mandeville, as an equivalent to the Olympic flame being created in [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-10-06 |title=Stoke Mandeville revealed as permanent home of Paralympic flame |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-67020029 |access-date=2024-03-24 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-06 |title=Stoke Mandeville to stage first standalone Paralympic Flame Lighting Ceremony |url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1141463/stoke-mandeville-paralympic-flame |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=www.insidethegames.biz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Paralympic Flame to be created at Stoke Mandeville for all future Paralympic Games |url=https://www.paralympic.org/news/paralympic-flame-be-created-stoke-mandeville-all-future-paralympic-games |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=International Paralympic Committee |language=en}}</ref>