残疾人奥林匹克运动会（Paralympic Games）始办于1960年，是由国际奥委会和国际残疾人奥林匹克委员会主办的、专为残疾人举行的世界大型综合性运动会，每四年于夏季奥运会后举办一届，迄今已举办过12届。残奥会体现着对公平与人权的诉求，对竞技精神的高扬，是身体和智力存在缺憾的人们享受运动、展现风采和活力的舞台。
What exactly are the Paralympics?
The Paralympics is a huge international sporting event for sports people with disabilities that takes place just after the Olympic Games in the same host city. Competitors come from all over the world and have a wide range of different disabilities from cerebral palsy to blindness. The Paralympic Games themselves are one of the biggest sporting events in the world and Paralympic athletes are serious, professional athletes who have trained hard for many years and come to The Games to win.
Classifications
To make lots of the sports fair, Paralympic athletes are put into six main categories depending on their disability. This means that Paralympians with the same or similar disabilities get to compete against each other. It wouldn' t be fair, for example, if a blind runner had to compete against an athlete in a wheelchair in the 1500m.
What sports do they play?
There are 20 sports played at the Paralympics and these break down into lots of different events. Some are the same as the Olympics like cycling and swimming but others are completely different and need different skills and talents.
Different sports
"Goalball" is a ball game played by blind athletes. The ball that is used has a bell inside so that players know where it is. Another game is "Boccia" pronounced "Bocha" which is a game for wheelchair users with cerebral palsy or similar conditions. It's a bit like bowls and players have to throw balls nearest to a white ball or "jack".
Modified sports
Lots of Olympic sports are basically the same as their Olympic equivalent with some variations. In wheelchair athletics, athletes use their wheelchairs and can obviously go a lot faster than able bodied runners. In wheelchair rugby, athletes use a modified wheelchair and smash into their opponents. In weightlifting, Paralympians only do the "bench-press" meaning that athletes lay on a special bench to lift the weights.
Finally
The International Olympic Committee or IOC are serious about The Paralympics. They believe that "the practice of sport is a human right" and that everyone should have an equal opportunity to get involved whoever they are.
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