(The full text is about 4100 words, which takes about 10 minutes to read)
In this article
Teacher Choi Young-sun will tell you about it
The story of the "Father of paralympic Games", a visionary and extraordinary founder of the tournament, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann from Germany.
Tokyo is the first city to host two Paralympic Games:
At the 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games, there were 378 athletes from 21 countries, and 9 major events were set;
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games welcomed 4,400 athletes from about 160 countries and regions who will fight for their dreams in 22 major events and 539 minor events.
After 57 years, the number of athletes has reached 10 times the size, and the number of countries has reached 8 times. Today's Paralympic Games is one of the most influential sports events in the world, and every Paralympic Games is held through the inspiring performance of athletes on the field, so that millions of people change their understanding of people with disabilities and people with disabilities to participate in sports, and to promote and prompt governments to promote the implementation of long-term public service programs for the benefit of people with disabilities.
Just as behind the birth and development of the modern Olympic Games is the initiation and unremitting efforts of the father of the Olympic Games, Coubertin, the Paralympic Games also has a visionary and extraordinary perseverance of the founder of the event, known as the "Father of the Paralympic Games", he is Dr. Ludwig Guttmann from Germany.
Dr. Ludwig Guttmann (3 July 1899 – 18 May 1980) ©Eva Loeffler
01
Jewish refugee doctor in World War II
Ludwig Gutmann was born on July 3, 1899, to a Jewish family in Toshek, Silesia, Germany. While volunteering at a hospital, he met his first paraplegic patient, a coal miner who suffered a fractured spine and died of sepsis.
Gutmann then began a career in medicine, becoming a neurosurgeon after receiving his doctorate in 1924, lecturing at universities, and serving as first assistant at the institute of the famous German neurologist Otfrid Foerster.
However, as Nazi Germany came to power in 1933 to pursue anti-Semitic policies, Dr. Gutmann was expelled from his former university and had to work only at the local Jewish hospital, where he became medical director in 1937.
In the early morning of November 9-10, 1938, the world-shattering Kristallnacht Incident occurred, on the same night, Nazi party members and SS attacked Jews throughout Germany, in which almost all synagogues, more than 7,000 Jewish shops, 29 department stores, etc. were set on fire or damaged, dozens of Jews were killed, and tens of thousands of Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
On that day, Dr. Gutmann still adhered to the doctor's duties, telling the staff of the hospital to accept all the patients and do their best to treat them. Fortunately, in March 1939, Dr. Gutmann finally found the opportunity to arrive in Oxford, England, with his family as refugees. Dr. Gutman's daughter recalled: "When I was six years old in 1939, I remember being frightened and crying a lot, and even as a child, I could feel the fear and sadness of my parents. ”
02
Healers are benevolent and active in sports
Give hope to paraplegics
Upon arrival in the UK, Dr Gutmann continued his spinal cord injury research at Radcliffe Hospital. In 1943, the British government invited him to build the first National Centre for Spinal Cord Injury at Stoke-Mandeville Hospital, for reasons that the RAF wanted to provide treatment and rehabilitation for wounded pilots. He served as the center's director from its completion in 1944 until his retirement in 1966.
However, when Dr. Gutmann began working at the National Center for Spinal Cord Injury, it was widely believed that paraplegic patients only had two years to survive after being injured, but he refused to think that paraplegia was equivalent to declaring death, improving rehabilitation therapy, hoping to help patients return to social life, he arranged meticulous care, meticulous care, and psychologically paid more attention to what patients could do than what they could not do.
He involved his patients in a variety of activities, including carpentry, watch repair, etc., and sports ultimately worked to the best of their ability. He believes that sport is an important rehabilitation for these injured soldiers, helping them regain their physical strength, self-confidence and self-esteem. It was out of love for patients to return to social life that Dr. Gutmann began to achieve this goal in the form of sports events.
Early sports rehabilitation activity ©at Stoke-Mandeville Hospital WheelPower
03
Prototype of the Paralympic Games - Stoke -
Mandeville Games
On 29 July 1948, the same day as the opening of the London Olympics, Dr. Gutmann organized the first Stoke-Mandeville Games, in which an archery competition was held on the lawn in front of the hospital for 14 men and 2 women who had suffered spinal paraplegia in the British Army.
1948 First Stoke-Mandeville Games - Wheelchair Archery Competition ©WheelPower
Dr. Gutman's daughter said:
“
Since the first event in 1948, my father has said that he hopes to have an Olympic Games for people with disabilities.
”
In 1952, the Stoke-Mandeville Games were upgraded to an international event, and a group of Dutch veterans came to compete with the British team, with more than 130 athletes, and has been held annually ever since.
In the 1950s, the Israeli team participated in the Stock-Mandeville Games ©IWAS
Dr. Gutman at the 1953 Stoke-Mandeville Games at ©WheelPower
In this photo, Dr. Gutman's back is exactly the concept of the tournament announced in 1953:
The goal of the Stoke-Mandeville Games is to unite paralyzed people from all over the world in international sport, and your true sportsmanship will bring hope and inspiration to thousands of paralyzed people.
For the paralyzed, being able to help strengthen friendship and understanding among nations through sport is the greatest contribution to society.
04
The birth and development of the Paralympic Games
Dr. Gutmann's dream finally came true in 1960, when the International Stoke-Mandeville Games were held immediately after the conclusion of the Summer Olympics in Rome, when around 400 wheelchair players from 23 countries competed in 8 major events, including athletics, wheelchair basketball, swimming, table tennis, archery, wheelchair fencing, snooker, darts and archery. The 1960 event is considered the first Paralympic Games.
Wheelchair basketball in 1960 Paris Olympic Games official website
The 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games was the first time they came to Asia and the first time that Paralympic athletes were able to begin using some of the venues used in the Games. Weightlifting and wheelchair racing were the first competitions, and since there were no dedicated competition wheelchairs, athletes competed in daily wheelchairs of at least 15 kilograms (today's competition wheelchairs are only about 7 kilograms).
At that time, the organizing committee was able to negotiate with a number of airlines, charter flights or shared flights to send athletes to Tokyo. The budget for the tournament that year was 80 million yen, which was soon significantly overspended, but after the media publicity, more than 2,000 people and institutions poured in to solve all the costs.
Dr. Gutmann retired from clinical medical service in 1966, but was still actively involved in sports and promoting the development of sports for people with disabilities, and Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the knighthood of knighthood that year.
The 1972 Paralympic Games were held in Heidelberg, Germany, ahead of the Munich Olympics, when the number of participants had reached 984 from 43 countries. It was at this tournament that the head of delegation and coach first began to discuss the rules of each event and decided to set up a chapter under the organizing committee for each major event, which gave each event more freedom and was the origin of the future Paralympic classification system.
The 1976 Paralympic Games were held in Toronto, Canada, and the Olympics of the same year were held in Montreal. The number of athletes reached 1657 that year, including for the first time amputees (253) and visually impaired athletes (187). The tournament made significant strides in media coverage, which was broadcast daily by Canadian television. In the same year, the first Winter Paralympic Games were held in Sweden.
05
The Paralympic Games were also on the brink of danger
The Paralympic Games have also been through ups and downs, and it has not been easy. Once, Mexico City, which won the right to host the 1968 Olympic Games, originally promised to host the Paralympic Games, but after two years due to technical difficulties, It was fortunate that Israel was willing to host it in order to commemorate the 20th anniversary of independence.
The 1984 Paralympic Games saw the U.S. state of Illinois quit six months before the start of the tournament, Stoke-Mandeville Hospital once again took the lead in hosting the wheelchair race, while New York hosted the event for other disabled athletes, and the scale of the event that year had already involved 2,900 athletes from 45 countries.
From the time of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 to the Seoul (Seoul) Olympics in 1988, the Paralympic Games and the Olympic Games were held in different locations.
06
After the 1988 Paralympic Games
Cooperation with the Olympic Games has become closer
In 1988, Seoul (then known as "Seoul") accepted the Paralympic Games when hosting the Olympic Games, and the number of people exceeded the 3,000 mark that year, and the number of countries increased to 60. Since then, the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been held in the same city.
In 1989, the International Paralympic Committee was finally officially established. By the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 123 countries and regions had participated, with 3,879 athletes, 1.2 million tickets sold that year and broadcast in more than 100 countries.
In 2001, the IOC formally signed an agreement with the IOC to decide on the ownership of the hosting rights; once selected as the host city of the Olympic Games, it must host the Olympic Games for people with disabilities, that is, to host both the Olympic Games and the Olympic Games for people with disabilities, and such close cooperation with the IOC was actively promoted by Dr. Gutmann during his lifetime.
07
Combining doctors with tournament organizers,
He changed the world
As a physician, Gutmann's innovations in the treatment of spinal injuries not only improved the level of care for paraplegic patients, but also revolutionized the basic principles of neurological rehabilitation, cultivated a large number of rehabilitation medical workers, and spawned modern rehabilitation medicine. He founded the International Paraplegic Medical Association (now the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS)) in 1961, and he served as its first president until 1970.
Legendary British athlete Caz Walton, who has participated in five Paralympic Games and is also a patient of Dr Gutmann, said: "I think Dr Gutmann has changed the world for us; it's a radical change... He came, he had the foresight... As far as disability and disability movements are concerned, he has truly changed the world. ”
Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain's greatest Ever Paralympic, said: "If I can say anything to Sir Ludwig, it's 'thank you'... Before he goes to Stoke-Mandeville Hospital for rehabilitation, if you break your back or neck, you will be left in the hospital waiting to die, it's as simple as that. ”
Ludwig Guttmann once said:
If I've done a good thing in my medical career, it's to introduce sports into the rehabilitation of people with disabilities.
Sir Ludwig has dedicated his life to people with disabilities around the world so that through sport they can reintegrate into their communities as equal and respected citizens. It was his tireless efforts and determination that made the Paralympic Games what it is today.
08
His dream was passed on,
The next step will truly change the lives of 1.2 billion people
The holding of each Paralympic Games has greatly promoted the construction of barrier-free facilities and relevant laws and regulations in the host country, leaving a valuable legacy for people with disabilities.
At this year's Tokyo Paralympic Games, the WeThe15 program, which aims to drive fundamental change in a decade, has been launched, and through a series of activities, it will promote the integration of people with disabilities into society, hoping to break down the social and systemic barriers that prevent people with disabilities from realizing their potential and make people with disabilities become active members of society.
On August 19, more than 125 landmarks around the world lit up purple lights in support of the WeThe15 program.
The Colosseum is lit up in purple to support the WeThe15 program @WeThe15
What are the main contents of WeThe15?
People with disabilities make up 15% of our world's population and are part of human diversity.
WeThe15 aspires to be the largest human rights movement ever, representing and changing the lives of the world's 1.2 billion people with disabilities.
WeThe15 will place disability and race, gender and sexual orientation at the heart of the integration agenda.
As a global movement, WeThe15 aims to end discrimination against people with disabilities over the next decade and to publicly promote the visibility, accessibility and inclusion of disability issues.
WeThe15 brings together the largest ever coalition of international organizations from the fields of sports, human rights, policy, business, arts and entertainment.
WeThe15 will work with governments, businesses and the public over the next decade to revolutionize the world's largest marginalized group, which accounts for 15% of the world's population.
Everyone has a role to play in creating change.
Sabrina Ibáñez, President of the Paralympic Sports Association, said:
While sporting events like the Paralympics have the power to showcase the achievements of Paralympic athletes to the world, there is a real need to articulate the challenges they face in their daily lives. If we are to break down the barriers that prevent them from contributing adequately to their communities, there is a great need to change social attitudes towards people with disabilities.
From 1948, from Dr. Gutman's tournament for 16 veterans wounded in the war, to a global campaign in 2021 aimed at radically changing the lives of 1.2 billion people, Dr. Gutman's dream continues to be passed on, and we still have a long way to go in creating a barrier-free and more inclusive world for people with disabilities.
However, every you and I can respond to the call of the WeThe15 plan, let more people recognize the current situation that needs to be improved, and let more people start to think about what kind of world we hope to create for the next generation in such a torch.
References:
Official website of the International Olympic Committee
Official website of the International Paralympic Committee
Paris 2024 official website
Tokyo 2020 official website
Official website of the United Nations
UNESCO official website
National Paralympic Heritage Trust, UK
Google Art & Culture
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