Host city | Russia Sochi, Krasnodar Krai | ||
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Motto | Hot. Cool. Yours. (Russian: Жаркие. Зимние. Твои.) |
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Nations participating | 45 | ||
Athletes participating | 550 | ||
Events | 72 in 5 sports | ||
Opening ceremony | 7 March | ||
Closing ceremony | 16 March | ||
Officially opened by | President Vladimir Putin | ||
Athlete's Oath | Valery Redkozubov | ||
Paralympic torch |
Sergey Shilov Olesya Vladykina |
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Paralympic stadium | Fisht Olympic Stadium | ||
Winter: | |||
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Summer: | |||
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The 2014 Winter Paralympics (Russian: Зимние Паралимпийские игры 2014, tr. Zimniye Paralimpiyskiye igry 2014), the eleventh Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), held in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia from 7–16 March 2014. 45 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) participated in the Games, which marked the first time Russia ever hosted the Paralympics. The Games featured 72 medal events in five sports, and saw the debut of snowboarding at the Winter Paralympics.
The lead-up to these Paralympics were met with concerns regarding Russia's recent military intervention in the nearby Crimean peninsula of Ukraine, which led to both the United Kingdom and United States choosing not to send governmental delegations to the Games, and British government officials intending to publicly boycott the games. While the IPC monitored the situation throughout the Games, these concerns did not affect the participation of athletes from these countries—although, the head of Ukraine's NPC threatened to pull its athletes from the Games if the situation escalated, and members of the Ukrainian team staged symbolic protests of the crisis throughout the Games.
With 80 medals, 30 of them being gold, the host country of Russia won the most medals during these Games, and set a record for the most medals won by a single country during a single Winter Paralympic Games. Additionally, Russian skier Roman Petushkov won the most individual gold medals in Winter Paralympic history, with six golds across skiing and biathlon events. However, following the Games, the IPC discovered evidence that Russia's performance may have been aided by a wider state-sponsored doping program.