The paralympics were born on May 31, 1957

[SueM in MN]

I received this yesterday in a health-related newsletter and thought the readers of the disABILITIES Board would be interested:
When the first national wheelchair games were held on this date in 1957, 75 individuals paralyzed from the chest down from the U.S. and Canada competed. The games, held at Adelphi College, Garden City, N.Y., included the 60-yard dash, javelin throwing, table tennis, and other team and individual events. Three years later the first paralympics were held in Rome and have been held every four years since. At the last games in 1996, some 4,000 athletes from 102 countries competed in everything from archery to basketball, cycling and fencing.

 

[Michigan]

44 years later and still most people don't know they exist but NBC can spend months showing the XFL go figure!

 

[jason]

Yeah thats kninda sad. I went to the Opening Ceremonies last night. They were great except for the rain. They are going to show a 1 hour edited version on NBC tommorow afternoon. Look for me im in row 8 right behind were they sat the US athelets in wheelchairs.

 

[lisapooh]

I will they would show that in it's entirity just like the regular Olympics. The Deaf Games also. They are all awesome athletes who deserve recognition.

 

[SueM in MN]

I agree totally. The paralympic and deaf games athletes deserve the same coverage as every other athlete. I've seen some of the "summarized" games and the competitions are quite exciting.

 

[Wheelsie]

The Paralympics are SUPPOSED to be shown oin the AandE network in my area....go to www.aande.com and check if its the same w you!


Don't know why it would be on AandE though

Here's the link directly to the paralympic page

http://www.aande.com/tv/shows/paralympics/

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for that info, Wheelsie. It looks like A and E will have some good coverage of the event.
I also went to the MSNBC website to see if I could find out about other coverage. I did find quite a few news stories about the Paralympics , but nothing else about TV coverage.

 

[olena]

Thanks, Sue.....