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2012 Paralympics

XIV Paralympic Games
London Paralympics 2012.svg
Host city London, United Kingdom
Motto Inspire a Generation
Nations participating 164
Athletes participating 4,302
Events 503 in 20 sports
Opening ceremony 29 August
Closing ceremony 9 September
Officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II
Paralympic torch Margaret Maughan
Paralympic stadium London Olympic Stadium
Summer:
Beijing 2008 Rio 2016  >
Winter:
Vancouver 2010 Sochi 2014  >

The 2012 Summer Paralympics, the fourteenth Summer Paralympic Games, and also more generally known as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that took place in London, England from 29 August to 9 September 2012. These Paralympics were one of the largest multi-sport events ever held in the United Kingdom after the 2012 Summer Olympics, and were the largest Paralympics ever: 4,302 athletes from 164 National Paralympic Committees participated, with fourteen countries appearing in the Paralympics for the first time ever. A total of 503 events in 20 sports were held during these games; for the first time since their suspension after the 2000 Paralympics, events for the intellectually disabled were also held in selected sports.

The lead-up to these games prominently emphasized the return of the Paralympic movement to its spiritual birthplace: in 1948, the British village of Stoke Mandeville first hosted the Stoke Mandeville Games, an athletics event for disabled British veterans of the Second World War held to coincide with the opening of the Summer Olympics in London. They were the first-ever organized sporting event for disabled athletes, and served as a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games. Stoke Mandeville also co-hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics with Long Island, New York, after its original host, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, pulled out due to financial issues.


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