First City to Host the Paralympics Twice

Tokyo has become the first city to host the Paralympics twice in summer and we have curated a quiz for you to play.

Which Country First Hosted Paralympics?

The first Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960. Japan has held three Paralympics games so far and Tokyo became the first city to host the games twice, 1964 and 2020. The United States and the United Kingdom follow behind Japan having hosted the games twice.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games were supposed to be held from 21st August to 6th September 2020 but it was postponed to 24th August to 5th September 2021. The games were mostly held indoors with few audiences given the pandemic and the compromised immunity of the participants. 

The Tokyo Paralympic Games 2021 too faced a few changes regarding the games. While taekwondo and badminton were introduced, previous sports such as sailing and 7-a-side football were dropped. 

The Paralympics tries to involve as many participants as possible. Thus, each sport is played in subdivisions. For eg., There are three archery competitions, one for athletes with cerebral palsy, impairment in all limbs, and spinal cord injury, one for participants with fully functioning upper limbs, and one more for athletes who can only stand.   

Paralympics Host Cities

The Paralympics were once held on the basis of applications received from various cities, but in 2001, the  International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee mutually decided to allow the cities hosting the Olympics to host the Paralympian games as well. There have been 15 Summer Paralympics games held in 13 cities and 11 Winter games held in 10 different cities so far.

Summer Paralympic Games

Archery, athletics, boccia, basketball, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, goalball, judo, powerlifting, shooting,  table tennis, tennis, wheelchair rugby, volleyball, badminton, taekwondo, and swimming are the famous Paralympian sports. 

• Preparation: The Japanese governor, Yuriko Koike ordered narrow roads and doors to be widened, halls with low ceilings to be altered, and the installation of underground power lines in 2016 to make Japan more accessible for foreign paralympic athletes in 2020.
• Volunteers: Japan received around 186,101 volunteer applications in January 2019, the shortlisted volunteers were trained in October 2019. They were collectively known as “Field Cast”, the name was chosen by volunteers from three other shortlisted names, Game Force/ City Force, Games Anchor/ City Anchor.
• The Games: The medal depicting the traditional Japanese folding fan was unveiled on 25th August 2019 alongside the Olympic medals. The torch relay, mascots, and logo were similar to the Tokyo Olympics 2021. China is in the leading position with 23 gold, 15 silver, and 23 bronze medals. Great Britain and Russia followed in second and third place respectively.

While Russia was banned from participating in the Olympics, it was allowed to participate in the Paralympics. North Korea withdrew due to corona concerns and Afghanistan due to the instability caused by the Taliban.