Did you know that the Paralympics first started in 1948 when Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition which involved WW2 veterans that had spinal injuries? From there it has grown from the 1960 event in Rome with 400 participants from 23 countries, to 3806 participants and 136 countries in the Athens 2004 Olympics. Personally, I prefer watching the paralympics. You get a feeling of the true spirit of competition and I’m always amazed in what humans can accomplish.