1984 Summer Paralympics

VII Paralympic Games

Host city	New York City, New York, United States Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
Nations	45 (USA) 41 (GBR)
Athletes	1,800 (USA) 1,100 (GBR)
Events	~300 in 15 sports (USA) 603 in 10 sports (GBR)
Opening	17 June (USA) 22 July (GBR)
Closing	30 June (USA) 1 August (GBR)
Opened by	President Ronald Reagan (USA) Charles, Prince of Wales (GBR)
Stadium	Mitchel Athletic Complex (USA) Stoke Mandeville Stadium (GBR)
Summer ← Arnhem 1980 Seoul 1988 → Winter ← Innsbruck 1984 Innsbruck 1988 → 1984 Summer Olympics

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The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. There were two separate competitions: one in Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes with spinal cord injuries and the other at the Mitchel Athletic Complex and Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, United States of America for wheelchair and ambulatory athletes with cerebral palsy, amputees, and les autres [the others] (conditions as well as blind and visually impaired athletes). Stoke Mandeville had been the location of the Stoke Mandeville Games from 1948 onwards, seen as the precursors to the Paralympic Games, as the 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games in Rome in 1960 are now recognised as the first Summer Paralympics.^[1] As with the 1984 Summer Olympics, the Soviet Union and other communist countries except China, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia boycotted the Paralympic Games.^[2] The Soviet Union did not participate in the Paralympics at the time, arguing that they have no disabled people (called "invalids" by Soviet officials) in the country. The USSR made its Paralympic debut in 1988, during Perestroika.^[3]

The 1984 Paralympic Games were the last Summer Games not to be staged by the same host city as the Olympic Games. Seoul hosted both events in 1988, a pattern maintained thereafter.

Ceremonies[]

In the opening ceremonies, patchy showers greeted the 14000 spectators packed into the Mitchel Park stadium for the 2pm start of the New York Games opening ceremony on 19 June.^[4] New York radio personality William B. Williams introduced everyone with a welcome speech.^[4] Entertainers such as Bill Buzzeo and the Dixie Ramblers, Richie Havens, The New Image Drum and Bugle Corps, the ARC Gospel Chorus and the Square Dance Extravaganza followed the introduction speech.^[4] At the closing ceremonies, Commander Archie Cameron, President of ICC officially closed the games with a short speech acknowledging the athletes and the next host city, Seoul, South Korea. The flag of the games were then lowered and American athletes carried the flags back to the reviewing stand where they were handed over the President of the Organizing Committee, Dr William T. Callahan.^[4]

Mascot[]

Dan D. Lion
Mascot of the 1984 Summer Paralympics (New York)
Creator	Maryanne McGrath Higgins
Significance	A lion

The mascot for the 1984 Paralympic Games was Dan D. Lion, which was designed by an art teacher Maryanne McGrath Higgins.^[5]

Sports[]

Competitors were divided into five disability-specific categories: amputee, cerebral palsy, visually impaired, wheelchair, and les autres (athletes with physical disabilities that had not been eligible to compete in previous Games). The wheelchair category was for those competitors who used a wheelchair due to a spinal cord disability. However some athletes in the amputee and cerebral palsy categories also competed in wheelchairs. Within the sport of athletics, a wheelchair marathon event was held for the first time. The trials for the two wheelchair events to be held at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games was held in conjunction with the New York Games. However, despite the long and established history of using "paralympic" terminology, in the United States the US Olympic Committee prohibited the Games organizers from using the term. The seventeen contested sports are listed below, along with the disability categories which competed in each.^[6]

• Archery – Cerebral palsy, wheelchair, and les autres
• Athletics – All
• Boccia – Cerebral palsy
• Cycling – Cerebral palsy
• Equestrian – Cerebral palsy
• Football 7-a-side – Cerebral palsy
• Goalball – Visually impaired
• Lawn bowls – Amputee and wheelchair
• Lifting – Amputee, cerebral palsy, wheelchair, and les autres
  • Powerlifting
  • Weightlifting
• Shooting – Amputee, cerebral palsy, wheelchair, and les autres
• Snooker – Wheelchair
• Swimming – All
• Table tennis – Amputee, cerebral palsy, wheelchair, and les autres
• Volleyball – Amputee and les autres
• Wheelchair basketball – Wheelchair and les autres
• Wheelchair fencing – Wheelchair
• Wrestling – Visually impaired

Medal table[]

The host nations, Great Britain and the United States, are highlighted. Bahrain, China, Jordan, Trinidad and Tobago won their first ever medals, with Luxembourg winning a first ever gold.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States*	137	131	129	397
2	Great Britain*	107	112	112	331
3	Canada	87	82	69	238
4	Sweden	83	43	34	160
5	West Germany	81	76	75	232
6	France	71	69	46	186
7	Netherlands	55	52	28	135
8	Australia	49	54	51	154
9	Poland	46	39	21	106
10	Norway	30	30	30	90
11	Denmark	30	13	16	59
12	Spain	22	10	12	44
13	Belgium	21	23	14	58
14	Ireland	20	15	31	66
15	Finland	18	14	27	59
16	Switzerland	18	13	12	43
17	Austria	14	20	10	44
18	Hungary	12	13	3	28
19	Israel	11	21	12	44
20	Yugoslavia	11	10	11	32
21	Italy	9	19	14	42
22	Japan	9	7	8	24
23	New Zealand	8	10	7	25
24	Brazil	7	17	4	28
25	Mexico	6	14	17	37
26	Portugal	4	3	7	14
27	Hong Kong	3	5	9	17
28	China	2	12	8	22
29	Trinidad and Tobago	2	0	1	3
30	Luxembourg	1	4	1	6
31	Kuwait	1	3	4	8
32	Burma	1	2	1	4
33	Egypt	1	1	5	7
34	Kenya	1	1	1	3
35	East Germany	0	3	1	4
36	Iceland	0	2	8	10
37	India	0	2	2	4
	South Korea	0	2	2	4
39	Jordan	0	1	2	3
	Zimbabwe	0	1	2	3
41	Bahamas	0	1	1	2
	Indonesia	0	1	1	2
43	Bahrain	0	0	2	2
Totals (43 nations)		978	951	851	2780

Participating delegations[]

Fifty-four delegations took part in the 1984 Paralympics. Bahrain, China, East Germany, Faroe Islands, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela made their first appearances, India and Portugal returned to the Games after a 12-year absence.^[7]

Reception at the host cities[]

Odeda Rosenthal, a professor of humanities at a local community college on Long Island and translator for the Austrian team highlighted a number of problems at the games in a series of articles.^[4] She highlighted a number of issues such as poor communication, administrative hiccups and even bus drivers not knowing the routes to scheduled events that even caused some teams to miss events completely.^[4] Rosenthal continues by slamming the work by the Police Chief claiming the Chief "took the opposite tack of anything that was suggested to sort out the mess".^[4] However, overall reports and the general impression given off by the games was a friendly atmosphere and volunteers trying their hardest under difficult conditions.^[4]

See also[]

• 1984 Summer Olympics
• 1984 Winter Olympics
• 1984 Winter Paralympics

References[]

External links[]

• International Paralympic Committee