Australia at the 1984 Winter Paralympics
| Australia at the 1984 Winter Paralympics |
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| IPC code | AUS | ||||||||
| NPC | Australian Paralympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website | www |
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| in Innsbruck | |||||||||
| Competitors | 3 in 2 sports | ||||||||
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Medals Ranked 15th |
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| Winter Paralympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
The 1984 Winter Paralympics, then known as The Third World Winter Games for the Disabled, were held in Innsbruck, Austria. The games took place from the 15 until 21 January. Present at these games were 419 athletes from 21 countries, Spain and the Netherlands competing for the first time in the Winter Paralympics, competing in 107 events across 3 sports. The inclusion of Les Austres and Cerebral palsy impairment groups contributing to the distinct increase in athlete participation with the total number of athletes jumping from 229 at Geilo, Norway in 1980.
These games were unique as they were the first games organised by the International Co-ordinating Committee, which was formed shortly before on 15 March 1982 in Leysin, Switzerland. This committee was formed to incorporate the disability sport movement with the Olympic movement and led to future collaboration between the two.
The Austrian organisers were praised for their effort especially considering there was a severe lack of snow in Innsbruck at the time of the Games. In innovative fashion the organisers rallied the assistance of the Austrian Army to move snow to the tracks from neighbouring glaciers.
The logo for the 1984 Winter Paralympic was representative of the beginning of a much closer working relationship between the International Organising Committee (IOC) and the disability sport movement, when the IOC Executive Board meeting of 1982 agreed to permit the logo to incorporate the Olympic Rings. This did however come at a cost, as this incorporation of the rings was only permitted in exchange for the term 'Olympic' being dropped from the name of the games (then known as the 3rd Winter Olympic Games for the Disabled). The 3rd Winter Olympic Games for the Disabled was the preferred choice for the disability movement at the time, however they deemed a positive relationship with the IOC to be more valuable.
The three parts of the logo work together to collaboratively represent Innsbruck, the Olympic movement and the disability sport movement:
The opening ceremony, held on 14 January 1984, were another symbol of the growing relationship between the IOC and the disability sport movement. During negotiations over the use of the word 'Olympic' in the title of the games, it was also agreed upon that IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch would attend the games and whilst the Olympic flag was being raised, made an address.
The games were opened officially by the President of Austria, Dr Rudolph Kirchschläger and both the opening and closing ceremonies (held on 20 January 1984) took place in the Innsbruck Olympic Ice Stadium.
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