Igre za osobe sa invaliditetom održavaju se, kao i Olimpijske igre, u glavnom gradu Francuske, a na programu su od 28. avgusta do 8. septembra
Like the Olympic Games, these Games for athletes with disabilities are being held in the French capital, scheduled to run from 28 th August to 8 th September
the equivalent of the Olympics for people with disabilities. He brought together 16 veterans in wheelchairs, 14 men and two women, to compete in archery and netball. The only Yu- goslav participant in the Stoke Man- deville Games was Radomir Stamen- ković from Belgrade. He went on to win three consecutive gold medals in swimming at the 1954, 1955 and 1956 Games. This new sporting movement continued to develop and the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960. They included the participation of around 400 ath- letes from 23 countries. Competi- tors faced numerous problems, with the Paralympic Village and arenas lacking access for athletes with dis- abilities. The Italian army leapt to the rescue, carrying competitors up staircases in their wheelchairs. Serbia’s inaugural participa- tion in the Paralympic Games as an independent country came in Beijing in 2008, and Serbian ath- letes have so far brought home a total of 22 medals from four Olym- pic cycles: seven golds, ten silvers and five bronzes. Serbia was rep- resented at the last Games in To- kyo by 19 athletes, who won six medals: two golds, three silvers and one bronze. Both gold med- als were won by marksman Dragan Ristić. He became Olympic cham- pion in the Mixed 10-metre Air Ri- fle discipline, only to win a second gold in the Mixed 50-metre Air Ri- fle. Serbia’s silver medals went to fellow shooters Zdravko Savano- vić (Mixed 50m Rifle) and Laslo Šuranji (Men’s 50m Rifle 3 posi- tions SH1). Club Throw ace Žel- jko Dimitrijević won silver, while table tennis competitors Borisla- va Perić-Ranković and Nada Mat- ić brought home bronze. We hope more success is yet to come in Paris and that our athletes will bring home medals for Serbia, but we shouldn’t forget another Olympic slogan: the most important thing is not to win, but to take part.
Maskota Paraolimpijskih igara sa vidljivim invaliditetom šalje snažnu poruku o inkluziji A Paralympic mascot with a visible disability sends a strong message of inclusion
T he Olympic motto, “Ci- tius, Altius, Fortius” (Faster, Higher, Strong- er) was adopted at the initiative of Pierre de Coubertin. Wanting a slogan that expressed sporting excellence, these three words were intended to en- courage competitors to give their all. However, this founder of the International Olympic Committee didn’t live to see how the unifying power of the Olympic spirit led to the first Paralympic Games, held in Rome in 1960; to see how the Olympic motto propels athletes with disabilities to top results. The Paralympic Games tradition- ally take place two to three weeks after the Olympic Games and are scheduled to unfold this year, al- so in Paris, from 28 th August to 8 th September. The history of Paralympic sport began in 1948 at a hospital for war veterans in Stoke Mandeville, 60 kilometres north of London. Ger- man neurologist Sir Ludwig Gutt- mann was seeking a way to help his patients, World War II veter- ans, to speed up their rehabilita- tion. His specialised unit comprised Royal Air Force pilots with spinal cord injuries, all of whom had to use wheelchairs. Doctor Guttmann or- ganised sporting events at the hos- pital as the actual Olympic Games were taking place in London. He said at the time that the “Stoke Man- deville Games” would one day be
sa brojnim problemima, jer Pa- raolimpijsko selo i borilišta nisu imali obezbeđen pristup za spor- tiste sa invaliditetom. U pomoć je priskočila italijanska vojska ko- ja je takmičare u kolicima nosila uz stepenice. Srbija je kao samostalna dr- žava prvi put učestvovala na Pa- raolimpijskim igrama u Pekingu 2008. godine i srpski sportisti do- neli su ukupno 22 odličja iz četiri olimpijska ciklusa – sedam zlat- nih, deset srebrnih i pet bronza- nih. Na poslednjem takmičenju Srbiju je u Tokiju predstavljalo 19 sportista, koji su osvojili šest medalja – dve zlatne, tri srebrne i jednu bronzanu. Obe zlatne me- dalje osvojio je strelac Dragan Ri- stić. On je postao olimpijski šam- pion u disciplini vazdušna puška 10 metara miks, da bi drugo zla- to osvojio u disciplini vazdušna puška 50 metara. Srebrne meda- lje pripale su Zdravku Savanovi- ću (vazdušna puška 50 metara) i Laslu Šuranji u disciplini puška trostav u klasi SH1. Bacač čunje- va Željko Dimitrijević osvojio je srebrno odličje, dok je stonote- niserkama Borislavi Perić-Ran- ković i Nadi Matić pripala bron- zana medalja. Nadamo se da će uspesi usle- diti i u Parizu i da će naši spor- tisti doneti medalje za Srbiju, ali ne treba zaboraviti još jedan slo- gan Olimpijskih igra, a to je da je ipak najvažnije učestvovati.
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