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100 things to know about the 2020 Paralympic Games

August 24 - September 5

10 Aug 2021

Countdown to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics with some fascinating facts, historical moments and key information, from the founder of the Movement to the tallest Paralympian!

Maybe you did not know much about the father of the Paralympic Movement, Sir Ludwig Guttmann. Or perhaps the differences between Paralympic sports and their Olympic counterparts. There is so much about the Paralympics that will surprise you, apart from the outstanding abilities of Para athletes.

With 17 days until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, check out what you might have (and not have) known:

( Most have embedded links )

1. Badminton and taekwondo will make their Paralympic debuts at Tokyo 2020.

2. Tokyo will make history as the first city to stage the Paralympic Games for a second time, having hosted the event in 1964.

3. The Paralympic mascot for Tokyo 2020 is called Someity, which comes from someiyoshino, a popular cherry blossom variety, and additionally echoes the English phrase “so mighty”.

4. A Refugee Paralympic Team consisting of up to six athletes will compete at Tokyo 2020 and will be led by Chef de Mission and US Paralympian Ileana Rodriguez, herself a former refugee. She competed in swimming at London 2012.

5. The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic torch is designed to depict the shape of a flame. The five flames generated from the petal unite at the centre of the torch, emulating even greater brilliance.

6. Boccia and goalball are the two only sports in the Paralympic programme that do not have an Olympic counterpart.

7. The Rio 2016 Paralympics smashed TV viewing records with a 4.1 billion cumulative audience. With more broadcasters than ever before covering the action, Tokyo 2020 is expected to surpass that number.

8. Hungarian Pal Szekeres became the first and so far only athlete to win Olympic and Paralympic medals after taking wheelchair fencing gold at Barcelona 1992. He had won bronze at the Seoul 1988 Olympics as a professional fencer before suffering a bus accident in 1991.

9. All top four finishers in the Rio 2016 Paralympic 1,500m T13 final, won by Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka (3:48.29), clocked fastest times than the top four finishers in the equivalent event at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

10. The Paralympic Games were founded by Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a Jewish doctor who fled Nazi Germany to England, where he opened a spinal injuries centre at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

[...]

95. In wheelchair races, athletes are considered to have finished the race when the centre of the racer’s front wheel reaches the finish line.

96. Celebrities Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Liza Minnelli, and Hall & Oates all performed at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

97. Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay Z performed at the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympics.

98. Algeria made history at the 2016 Paralympics as the first African women’s wheelchair basketball team playing in the Games.

99. A total of 83 countries won at least one medal at Rio 2016, the most ever at a Paralympic Games.

100. China have been the country with most gold medals at each Paralympic Games since Athens 2004. They won 63 in the Greek capital city, followed by 89 at Beijing 2008, 95 at London 2012 and 107 at Rio 2016.

https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/paralympics/news/100-things-to-know-about-the-paralympic-games