Great Britain at the Paralympics

Great Britain at the Paralympic Games
Flag of the United Kingdom IPC code  GBR NPC British Paralympic Association Website www.paralympics.org.uk
Paralympic history
Summer Games
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Winter Games
1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has participated (under the name "Great Britain") in every Summer and Winter Paralympic Games.

While the Olympic Games find their origin in Greece, Britain, and specifically the Stoke Mandeville Hospital is recognised as the spiritual home of the Paralympic Games. The first Paralympic Games, held in Rome in 1960, were devised as a direct result of the Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games, devised by Dr Ludwig Guttmann for soldiers with spinal cord injuries.^[1]

Britain has performed particularly well at the Summer Paralympic Games, consistently finishing between second and fifth on the medal tables - a slightly better performance than at the Olympics. Britain has won one gold medal at the Winter Paralympics and 493 at the Summer Games. Britain is second on the all-time Paralympic Games medal table.

Britain was the co-host of the 1984 Summer Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville, and the host of the 2012 Summer Paralympics, in London.

Although the country uses the name "Great Britain", athletes from Northern Ireland are entitled to compete as part of British delegations. Representatives of the devolved Northern Ireland government, however, have objected to the name, which they argue creates a perception that Northern Ireland is not part of the British Olympic team, and have called for the team to be renamed as Team UK.^[2][3]

Under the terms of a long-standing settlement between the British Olympic Association and the Olympic Council of Ireland, athletes from Northern Ireland can elect to represent Ireland at the Olympics, as Northern Irish people are legally entitled to dual citizenship.^[4]

Britain's most successful Paralympian is swimmer Mike Kenny who won 16 individual gold medals, as well as two relay silvers, in four Games.^[5] Although Great Britain has competed in every Games, the British Paralympic Committee was only founded in 1989, after Kenny's retirement. Media in Britain consistently refer to the most decorated Paralympic athletes from that year, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Dave Roberts and Sarah Storey as Britain's "greatest Paralympians", occasionally with the phrase "of the modern era", attached.^[6] The International Paralympic Committee, however, recognise all of Kenny's eighteen medals as Paralympic golds.^[7]

Britain's first Paralympic gold was earned at the 1960 Rome Games by Margaret Maughan.^[8]

Britain's first Winter Paralympic gold was earned at the Sochi 2014 Games by Kelly Gallagher and guide Charlotte Evans in the Women's Super-G Visually impaired.

Jade Etherington and guide Caroline Powell are the first and only Britons to win four medals at a single Winter Paralympics.^[9] After winning a silver medal in the Super-G, visually impaired event on 14 March 2014, Etherington became Great Britain's most successful female Winter Paralympian.^[10]

Medal tables

Medals by Summer Games

      Host country (Great Britain)

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1960 Rome	20	15	20	55	2
1964 Tokyo	18	23	20	61	2
1968 Tel-Aviv	29	20	20	69	2
1972 Heidelberg	16	15	21	52	3
1976 Toronto	29	29	36	94	5
1980 Arnhem	47	32	21	100	5
1984 Stoke Mandeville 1984 New York	107	112	112	331	2
1988 Seoul	65	65	53	183	3
1992 Barcelona	40	47	41	128	3
1996 Atlanta	39	42	41	122	3
2000 Sydney	41	43	47	131	2
2004 Athens	35	30	29	94	2
2008 Beijing	42	29	31	102	2
2012 London	34	43	43	120	3
Total	562	545	535	1642	2

Medals by Winter Games

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1976 Örnsköldsvik	0	0	0	0	10
1980 Geilo	0	0	0	0	11
1984 Innsbruck	0	4	6	10	12
1988 Innsbruck	0	0	0	0	16
1992 Tignes-Albertville	0	1	4	5	15
1994 Lillehammer	0	0	5	5	21
1998 Nagano	0	0	0	0	22
2002 Salt Lake City	0	0	0	0	23
2006 Turin	0	1	0	1	17
2010 Vancouver	0	0	0	0	21
2014 Sochi	1	3	2	6	10
Total	1	9	17	27	25

(Last updated: 14 March 2014)

Top Medal Winning Individuals

Summer Paralympics

Athlete	Sport(s)	Years	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Kenny, MikeMike Kenny	Swimming	1976–88	M	16	2	0	18
Grey-Thompson, TanniTanni Grey-Thompson	Wheelchair racing	1992–2000	F	11	4	1	16
Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	Swimming	2000–8	M	11	4	1	16
Storey, SarahSarah Storey	Swimming, Cycling	1992–2004	F	11	8	3	22
Pearson, LeeLee Pearson	Equestrian	2000-12	M	10	1	1	12

Winter Paralympics

Athlete	Sport(s)	Years	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Gallagher, KellyKelly Gallagher Guide: Charlotte Evans	Alpine Skiing	2010-2014	F	1	0	0	1
Etherington, JadeJade Etherington Guide: Caroline Powell	Alpine Skiing	2014	F	0	3	1	4
Smith, DeniseDenise Smith	Ice Sledge Speed Racing	1984	F	0	3	0	3
Burt, RichardRichard Burt	Alpine Skiing	1992-1994	M	0	1	3	4
Stockford, MatthewMatthew Stockford	Alpine Skiing	1992-1994	M	0	0	4	4

See also

• Great Britain at the Olympics

References

1. http://www.paralympic.org/Events/London2012/AboutUs
2. "No place for 'NI', says Olympic Team GB", Belfast Telegraph, 10 March 2011
3. "Minister urges BOA to change 'erroneous Team GB name'". BBC News. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
4. "Full text of the constitution" (PDF). Department of the Taoiseach. Retrieved 2010-02-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
5. "Mike Kenny (swimmer)". Paralympians' Club. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
6. "Sarah Storey Britain's greatest Paralympian of the modern era". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-10-12. External link in |publisher= (help)
7. "Meet Britain's other greatest Paralympian". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-02-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
8. Olympic Broadcasting Service, channel IPC1, Paralympics International Feed, "2012 Summer Paralympics Opening Ceremonies", airdate 29 August 2012
9. "Winter Paralympics: Jade Etherington and Caroline Powell claim fourth medal". The Guardian. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
10. "Etherington becomes GB's most successful female Winter paralympian". ESPN. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.