Australia at the 1968 Summer Paralympics
| Australia at the 1968 Summer Paralympics |
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| IPC code | AUS | ||||||||
| NPC | Australian Paralympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website | www |
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| in Tel Aviv | |||||||||
| Competitors | 32 in 10 sports | ||||||||
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Medals Ranked 4th |
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| Summer Paralympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
Australia competed at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel. The team finished fourth in the medal table and won a total of 38 medals; 15 gold, 16 silver and 7 bronze. Australia participated in ten sports and won medals in 7 sports.
Originally intended to be held in Mexico City, the 1968 Summer Paralympics were moved to Tel Aviv due to political unrest and financial issues plaguing the Mexican organising committee. Although there was disappointment expressed at not being able to have to Paralympics in the 'Olympic' city of that year, the Tel Aviv organising committee worked tirelessly to provide a first class experience for the athletes and their support staff, even financing 50% of the Australian team's travel expenses. The Australian team however had to be content with dubious living conditions for the duration of the competition, being housed in an underground carpark with most of the athletes sleeping on military style camp mattresses. Despite the poor accommodation the athletes performed well, with world records falling and numerous Australian competitors taking home a swag of gold medals (see 'Medalists' table below). In an attempt to depoliticise the games following Israel's Six Day War there was to be no official medal tally in Tel Aviv, however the Australian's haul of 38 medals earned them fourth spot on the 'unofficial' placings.
Following Mexico City's withdrawal as hosts of the Games in 1965, Buenos Aires, New York, and Tel Aviv all put forth offers to host the 1968 Games. Tel Aviv, Israel was eventually decided upon as the host city, with the President of the Israeli Stoke Mandeville Committee Arieh Fink, stating that the Israeli Government was most enthusiastic about being selected, given that it coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the State of Israel, as well as the twentieth anniversary of the Stoke Mandeville Games. This also signified the first time in Paralympic history that the Games were not held alongside the Summer Olympics in the same host city.
The opening ceremony for the 1968 Paralympic Games took place on November 4, 1968 in the University of Jerusalem Stadium. Twenty thousand spectators were present at the ceremony, which included an introduction and lap of honour of competing athletes, a military band performance, and folk dancing accompanied by a girls choir. Deputy Prime Minister of Israel Yigal Allon delivered the welcome message, with Arieh Fink, and Founder and President of the Games, Sir Ludwig Guttmann also giving speeches. Giving the oath on behalf of the athletes was Israeli's Zvi Ben-Zvi, one of the pioneering Israeli Paralympians during the 1954 Stoke Mandeville Games, having becoming a paraplegic serving in the Arab-Israeli War.
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