几分钟带你了解残奥会你应该知道的事！

The Beijing Paralympics Winter games has closed on the 13th March, lasting nine days.

About 96 Chinese paralympians took part in this great sports event and won 18 golds, 20 silvers and 23 bronzes, 61 medals in total, ranking the first on the medal standing.

China ranks the first on the medal table

While people are usually familiar with the Olympic Games. While when it comes to the Paralympics, people may not know a lot about it, especially the origin, the sport events, the athletes etc.

To begin with, let’s talk about what Paralympics exactly is.

 zou Lihong won the gold medal in wheelchair marathon in Rio in 2016.

From the picture above, it's clear to see Paralympics is the major international sports competition for athletes with disabilities.There are winter and summer Paralympic games, which alternately take place every two years. And Beijing Paralympic Games in 2022 is the 13th of the Winter Paralympics. The next one will be held in Milan in 2026. It is governed by International Paralympic Committee.

Why do we call it Paralympics?

This sports competition was first designed for disabled people especially the paraplegic （截瘫的）people who was unable to move or feel the legs or lower part of the body. Therefore, Paralympics is a word which connects ‘paraplegic’ with ‘Olympics’. This name was first officially used in 1988.

As time goes by, more and more different kinds of disabled people join it, this name becomes controversial（有争议的） in a way. However, people remain using this name these days. That’s because ‘para’ can also means ‘besides or alongside’ in Greek, Thus Paralympics means the sports competition that has the same  significance（意义） with Olympics. 

 the emblem(徽章) of Beijing Olympics and Paralympics.

What kind of disabled people can take part in the Paralympics?

Generally, there are six different disability groups—amputee(截肢), cerebral palsy（大脑瘫痪）, visual impairment（视力障碍）, impaired muscle power（肌肉损伤）, intellectual disability（智力残疾）, and “les autres”（其他） (athletes whose disability does not fit into one of the other categories, including dwarfism). 

Considering that the conditions of disability vary from person to person, the athletes are usually grouped with competitors who have similar degrees of impairment（缺陷） to ensure the fairness.

What popular sports event are there in Paralympics?

In the summer Paralympics, athlete compete in about 22 sports events, such as archery（剑术）, athletics（田径）, cycling, goalball(盲人门球), para-badminton, para-canoe, para-triathlon（全能三项）, rowing, shooting, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball/tennis/rugby and para taekwondo and boccia（硬地滚球）etc. 

archery in summer Paralympics

atheletics in summer paralympics

goalball for blind people 

para-badminton in summer paralympics

canoeing in summer paralympics

cycling in summer paralympics

boccia in summer paralympics

In winter Paralympics, it includes five types of events, they are alpine skiing(高山滑雪), cross-country skiing（越野滑雪）, biathlon（越野滑雪射击比赛）, ice sledge hockey（冰橇冰球）, and wheelchair curling（轮椅冰壶）.

alpine skiing in winter paralympics

cross-country skiing 

ice-sledge hockey

wheelchair curling

Where do the Paralympians stay during the competition？

Take the Beijing Paralympics in 2022 for example， all the Paralympics stay in the Olympic village.

Here’s a video about the Beijing Paralympic village！

In the end， for the paralympian，Paralympics is a great way to make their dream come ture. it's also a carrier to spread the spirit of braveness and perseverance for our society.

Nowadays, more and more athletes join in the competition.  In 2018, this number had risen to over 4,328,. However, because of the COV-19 epidemic, there are 736 Paralympians in Beijing Paralympics in 2022. But we're sure that larger number of people will compete in the future.