THE PARALYMPICS
A SPORTING CHANCE
Millions will be cheering on the 4,400 Paralympic athletes in Paris this month. It’s hard to believe it all started with 16 archers in an Aylesbury field
by ANNA MOORE
ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES, WHEELPOWER ARCHIVE
As the 1948 London Olympics opened in Wembley Stadium, a group of injured servicemen and women gathered in a sun-drenched field behind the National Spinal Injuries Centre in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, for an archery tournament. All were wheelchair users. Most were patients.
The event was organised by Dr Ludwig Guttmann, founder and director of the hospital. Dr Guttmann believed that sport could open the door to a new life for the young people who filled his wards and was convinced that one day these games would become equivalent to the Olympics. It seemed highly unlikely.
Yet this month’s Paralympics in Paris, with its 549 medal events and 22 sports, originated in that Aylesbury field. Dr Guttmann’s teenage daughter, Eva Loeffler, was a volunteer that day – she didn’t have much choice. ‘When my father wanted something done, there was no argument,’ she recalls. ‘Everything was done by volunteers. I had to pick up the archery arrows. After the medals, I carried around trays of beer for ever yone, including the competitors. Can you imagine that now? The 2012 Olympic village in London was completely dry!’