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Mandeville - The London 2012 Paralympic Mascot
Say hello to Mandeville, the London 2012 Paralympic mascot.
The name Mandeville is inspired by Stoke Mandeville, the
Buckinghamshire town where the Paralympic Movement was founded.
Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a neurosurgeon, began work at
Stoke Mandeville Hospital’s Spinal Injuries Unit in 1944. Faced
with a prevailing attitude that rehabilitating patients with spinal
cord injuries was impossible, Guttmann looked for ways to inspire
the former soldiers in his care. One of these ways was physical
activity. Guttmann realised that organised sport could help
motivate his patients to exercise, develop their physical strength
and rediscover their self-confidence. He introduced darts, archery,
snooker and table ten nis, and soon added team sports like
wheelchair polo and basketball.
In 1948, on the same day as the Opening Ceremony of the London
Olympic Games, Guttmann organised an archery competition for
16 of his patients. It was no accident that his competition began on
the same day as the Olympic Games – Guttmann wanted his event
to occupy a wider stage and dreamed of a ‘parallel Olympics’ for
athletes with disabilities. He later declared: ‘I prophesied that the
time would come when this, the Mandeville Games, would achieve
world fame as the disabled person’s equivalent of the Olympics’.
The Stoke Mandeville Games were held annually after 1948,
and became international in 1952 with the addition of Dutch
competitors. In 1960, the ninth Stoke Mandeville Games took
place in Rome, following that year’s Olympic Games. These are
considered to be the first Paralympic Games, with 400 disabled
athletes from 23 countries participating.
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