2004 Paralympics
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| Host city | Athens, Greece | ||
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| Motto | Great Athletes. Great Performances. (Greek: Μεγάλους αθλητές. Μεγάλες Παραστάσεις.) | ||
| Nations participating | 136 | ||
| Athletes participating | 3,806 | ||
| Events | 519 in 19 sports | ||
| Opening ceremony | September 17 | ||
| Closing ceremony | September 28 | ||
| Officially opened by | President Costis Stephanopoulos | ||
| Paralympic torch | Georgios Toptsis | ||
| Paralympic stadium | Athens Olympic Stadium | ||
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The 2004 Summer Paralympics (Greek: Θερινοί Παραολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004), the twelfth Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece from 17 September to 28 September 2004. 3,806 athletes from 136 National Paralympic Committees competed. 519 medal events were held in 19 sports.
Four new events were introduced to the Paralympics in Athens; 5-a-side football for the blind, quads wheelchair tennis, and a women's competition in sitting volleyball and in the judo. Following a scandal at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, in which the Spanish intellectually-disabled basketball team was stripped of their gold medal after it was found that multiple players had not met the eligibility requirements, ID-class events were suspended.
A total of 1567 medals were awarded during the Athens games: 519 gold, 516 silver, and 532 bronze. China topped the medal count with more gold medals, more silver medals, and more medals overall than any other nation. In the table below, the ranking sorts by the number of gold medals earned by a nation (in this context a nation is an entity represented by a National Paralympic Committee).
Among the top individual medal winners was Mayumi Narita of Japan, who took seven golds and one bronze medal in swimming, setting six world records in the process and bringing her overall Paralympic gold medal total to fifteen. Chantal Petitclerc of Canada won five golds and set three world records in wheelchair racing, while Swedish shooter Jonas Jacobsson took four gold medals. France's Béatrice Hess won her nineteenth and twentieth Paralympic gold medals in swimming. Swimmer Trischa Zorn of the United States won just one medal, a bronze, but it was her 55th ever Paralympic medal. She retained her position as the most successful Paralympian of all times.
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