Stoke Mandeville’s special place

To celebrate Stoke Mandeville’s history in the Paralympic Games around 3,000 people attended a special ceremony at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium to watch the Torchbearers create the Flame.

German neurologist Dr Ludwig Guttman introduced sport including wheelchair polo and basketball to the rehabilitation programme for injured Second World War servicemen at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and the first archery competition for wheelchair athletes took place at Stoke Mandeville on the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games. 

From this time the Games were held annually. In 1952 competitors from the Netherlands took part as well and the event went on to become the International Stoke Mandeville Games.
The first Paralympic Games took place in Rome in 1960 and featured 400 athletes from 23 countries. 

The Paralympic and Olympic Games have taken place in the same city since Seoul in 1988.

When the Paralympic Flame enters the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London this evening it will have been carried by 580 Torchbearers, on its 24 hour 92 mile journey.

As the years have gone by the Paralympic Games have grown bigger and become more high profile, and in terms of size and scale they are now the second biggest world-wide sporting event after the Olympic Games.