A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Great Britain at the Paralympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IPC code | GBR |
| NPC | British Paralympic Association |
| Website | www |
| Medals Ranked 2nd |
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| Summer appearances | |
| Winter appearances | |
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has participated in every summer and winter Paralympic Games.
Birthplace of the Paralympic movement
While the Olympic Games find their origins in Ancient Greece, post-war Britain, and specifically the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, is recognised as the spiritual birthplace and home of the Paralympic movement.
The first official Paralympic Games, held in Rome in 1960, were simultaneously the 9th International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games, an annual competition first devised by Dr Ludwig Guttmann in 1948 to coincide with the London Olympic Games of 1948, for soldiers with spinal cord injuries being cared for in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and which first became an international event in 1952, when Dutch veterans requested an opportunity to compete; a delighted Dr Guttman immediately renamed the 1952 event, which once again coincided with the Summer Olympic Games, as the 1st International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games. The 9th International Games were held in Rome to once more emphasise the relationship with its sister Olympic movement, and were designated retrospectively the first Paralympic Games.
While the Stoke Mandeville Games continue to exist as the IWAS World Games, a specific event for wheelchair and amputee athletes, the Paralympic Games evolved from its Stoke Mandeville Games roots to include a far more comprehensive range of disabilities.
Dr. Guttmann's stature in the history and lore of the Paralympic movement is therefore broadly analogous to that of Pierre de Coubertin in the birth of the Olympic Games, and Great Britain's role is compared to the role of Greece in the Olympic movement. This legacy was commemorated before each Paralympic Games since 2012 with the lighting of a 'legacy flame' at Stoke Mandeville as part of the Paralympic torch event. From 2024 onwards every Paralympic flame will first be lit in Stoke Mandeville Hospital in a deliberate echo of the ceremonies that take place before each modern Olympic Games at Olympia.
The President of the IPC, Andrew Parsons formally recognised the analogous place Great Britain and Stoke Mandeville play in the Paralympic movement to Greece and Olympia in the Olympic movement in 2024: “For everyone involved in the Paralympic Movement, Stoke Mandeville represents sacred and cherished ground...It is here 76 years ago that the visionary pioneer Sir Ludwig Guttmann created the Paralympic Movement.” [1][2]
Historical performance in Paralympic Games
Great Britain has performed particularly well at the Summer Paralympic Games, consistently finishing among the top five in the medal tables - a marginally better performance than that achieved by Great Britain at the Olympics until the 21st century - reflecting the country's sustained connection to, and continuing deep support for, the Games. Britain has won three gold medals at the Winter Paralympics and 626 at the Summer Games. Combining these results, the British team is positioned in second place on the all-time Paralympic Games medal table.
Great Britain was the host of the first Stoke Mandeville Games to coincide with London's hosting of the 1948 Summer Olympics. These Games are the direct precurssor and inspiration of the Paralympic Games, but are not treated as an edition of those Games. Great Britain was, however, one of the co-host countries of the 1984 Summer Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville, sharing the duties with New York to coincide with the United States hosting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and the sole host, for the first time, of the 2012 Summer Paralympics, in London. The 2012 Games were very strongly supported by the British public, and the British broadcast and print media, and the press in Great Britain continue to give significant coverage to the event, and to paralympic sport in other formats, such as para-sport in the Commonwealth Games and European Para Championships.
Paralympics GB and naming conventions
Although the country uses the name "Great Britain", athletes from Northern Ireland are entitled to compete as part of British delegations on the same terms as at the Olympic Games. 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.[3][4] The team is branded and promoted as Paralympics GB, though is sometimes informally and incorrectly referred to as Team GB, which is a brand specific to the teams of the British Olympic Association.
Under the terms of a long-standing settlement between the British Paralympic Association and the Paralympics Ireland, athletes from Northern Ireland can elect to represent Ireland at the Paralympics, as Northern Irish people are legally entitled, as of birthright, to dual citizenship.[5] Some athletes have represented both nations, and Bethany Firth, a paralympic swimmer from Northern Ireland, has won gold medals for both nations in the same event in back-to-back Games.
Notable British paralympians
Great Britain's most successful Paralympian is swimmer turned cyclist Sarah Storey, who took the honour at the 2020 Summer Paralympics when she won her 16th gold medal, and 27th medal in all. Prior to 2020, the record had been held for decades by swimmer Mike Kenny who also won 16 individual gold medals, as well as two relay silvers, in four Games.[6] 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 referred 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 to differentiate from the pre-BPC events.[7] The International Paralympic Committee, however, recognise all of Kenny's eighteen medals as Paralympic medals, and he remains Great Britain's most successful male Paralympian and the most successful British Paralympian in a single sport (Of her 16 gold medals, Storey won 11 in cycling and 5 in swimming).[8]
Great Britain's first Paralympic gold was earned at the 1960 Rome Games by Margaret Maughan. Her feat was recognised when Maughan was chosen to light the Paralympic Flame during the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[9]
Great 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.
Multiple athletes have won 4 medals at the Winter Paralympics for Great Britain, each in alpine skiing. Most recently by Menna Fitzpatrick and her guide Jennifer Kehoe in 2018, Jade Etherington and guide Caroline Powell in 2014. Richard Burt won 4 medals across two games in 1992 and 1994. However, Fitzpatrick and her guide Kehoe are the only athletes from this group to have won a gold medal. The only other British athletes to have won a gold medal at the Winter Paralympics are Kelly Gallagher and her guide Charlotte Evans, also in alpine skiing in 2014 and Neil Simpson and his guide and brother, Andrew in 2022, also in Alpine skiing.
Hosted Games
In 2012, Great Britain became the second nation, the other being the United States, to host the Summer Paralympic Games twice.
| Games | Host city | Dates | Nations | Participants | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 Summer Paralympics | Stoke Mandeville | 22 July – 1 August | 41 | 1100 | 603 |
| 2012 Summer Paralympics | London | 29 August – 9 September | 164 | 4302 | 503 |
Medal tables
- *Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.
Medals by Summer Games
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Medals by Winter Games
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Great Britain has never topped the medal table at the Paralympic Games. Conversely, it has never finished lower than fifth, and has only finished below second once this century, when it finished third in its home games of 2012. In 1984 Great Britain won its greatest number of medals, 331, and gold medals, 107, at a single Games. Since those Games, the Paralympic schedule has been significantly updated and streamlined, with around 40% fewer events contested, and greater numbers of countries contesting those events that remain. As such, the 1984 totals are unlikely ever to be threatened. In recent Games, Great Britain have consistently won more than one hundred medals every Games except 2004 in Athens, and have won thirty gold medals in every summer Games since the 1976 Games in Toronto.
