Updated: 22 August 2012 05:00 AM | By Maureen O'Hare
The History of the Paralympic Games

1948 - 2012: The story of the Paralympic Games

1948 - 2012: The story of the Paralympic Games (© Rex Features)
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  • 1948 - 2012: The story of the Paralympic Games (© Rex Features)
  • Before the Paralympics (© Wikipedia/Public Domain)
  • The Stoke Mandeville Games (© Rex Features)
  • 1948 International Wheelchair Games (© Edward G. Malindine/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
  • 1952 - 1960 (© MacGregor/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
  • Expansion (© Clive Limpkin / Associated Newspapers / Rex Features)
  • Categories (© REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV)
  • What's in a name? (© REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)
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Around 4200 elite athletes from around the world will gather in London this August for the 14th Paralympic Games. The games are open to athletes with conditions including mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy and, with 503 events across 21 sports, it's one of the biggest international sports events in the world. Not bad for an event that started out 64 years ago with a handful of World War II veterans at an NHS hospital in an English village.

Read on to discover the story of the Paralympic Games...

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