WHY WE ARE DISCUSSING THIS?

Differences between Summer Olympics vs Paralympics

29-08-2021

The Olympics and Paralympics are two of the

 biggest sporting events in the world and take

 place every four years in 2 segments -The

 Summer and the Winter Games.The Paralympics

 takes place immediately after the Olympics in the

 same host city.The Olympics are older and more

 popular than the Paralympics.

The primary difference between the Olympics

 and Paralympics is that while most of the

 participants in the Olympics are able-bodies,The

 participants in the Paralympics are affected

 by some form of physical or intellectual

 disabilities.In fact, the Paralympics originally

 started as a way to help soldiers that had been

 wounded in World War II.

The games started off as a way to provide

 rehabilitating sport for veterans,Which

 eventually turned into recreational sport with

 friendly competition before eventually developing

 into what the Paralympics are today.

                         

                              HISTORY

The modern Olympic Games were conceptualized

 by Pierre de Coubertin taking inspiration from

 the ancient OlympicGames which were held in

 Greece.He also founded the International

 Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the

 first modern Olympic Games which wasthe 1896

 Athens Olympics.Since then, the modern Summer

 Olympics have been held every four years except

 the 1912,1940 and 1944 editions which

 were canceled due to World War I and II.

At the opening ceremony of the 1948 London

 Olympic Games, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann organized

 the first competition for wheelchair athletes

 which was named Stoke Mandeville Games by

 him.Later, the Stoke Mandeville Games

 metamorphosed into the Paralympic Games

 which first took place in Rome, Italy, in 1960.It

 featured 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since

 then, the Paralympic Summer Games have been

 held once every four years.

                 WHO GOVERNS IT?

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the

 governing body of the Summer Olympics which

 was foundedby Pierre de Coubertin in 1894.In

 1989, the International Paralympic Committee

 was formed as an NPO(Non-Profit Organization)

 to act as the Global Governing body of the

 Paralympics Games.

                 TYPES OF SPORTS?

There are currently 33 sports in the Summer

 Olympics with 5 new sports having been added at

 the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.(aquatics, archery,

 athletics, badminton, baseball/softball, basketball,

 boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing,

 field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, handball,

 judo, karate, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby

 sevens, sailing, shooting, skateboarding, sport

 climbing, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, surfing,

 volleyball, weightlifting, taekwondo, wrestling)

 Paralympic Games.

There are 22 Summer Paralympic Sports with two

 new sports, badminton and taekwondo, making

 their debutsat the Tokyo Games.A few sports are

 the same, but the difference is how it is

 played.For example, instead of basketball,

 wheelchair basketball is played in Paralympics.

The symbol of Paralympics is composed of three

'agitos', colored red, blue, and green, encircling a

 single point on a white field.This is a symbol for

 athletes coming together from allaround the

 world.The agito is a symbol of movement which

 in Latin means 'I move'that is specially designed

 for the Paralympic movement.Moreover, the 3

 colors are widely represented in national flagsall

 around the World.

               INDIAN CONTINGENT

The Indian contingent this year will include 54

 athletes who will take part in nine sporting

 events:Badminton, canoeing, shooting,

 swimming, powerlifting, table tennis, archery,

 athletics, and taekwondo.In the 2016

 Paralympics, India was represented by just 19

 athletes.Despite being such a small team, the

 sportspersons returned home with two gold

 medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal

 in 2016

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