CHAPTER 1 THE PARALYMPIC GAMES George Eyser center both photos in gymnastics competition Frankfurt Germany 1908
George Eyser had a lot of success at the 1904 Summer Olympics The American gymnast won six medals on the same day But Eyser was different than all of the other Olympic athletes in one important way When Eyser was a boy growing up in St Louis Missouri he injured his leg so badly that doctors had to remove it completely They replaced it with an artificial limb called a prosthesis Eyser's wooden leg allowed him to run and play with the other boys
In 1904 Eyser became the first athlete with a disability to compete in the Olympic Games Over the years more and more athletes with a range of disabilities began to excel in a variety of sports It wouldn't be long before disabled athletes earned their own Olympic Games In 1948 the Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed became the first official set of events open only to disabled athletes It was special because it took place alongside the 1948 Olympic Games in the United Kingdom The event was named after the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England The hospital was the first to include a special center for people who had suffered spinal injuries FUL The spinal injuries center at Stoke Mandeville Hospital was founded by a man named Ludwig Guttmann He believed that competing in sports could be a good way for people with injuries to gain confidence That's why Guttman organized the first Stoke Mandeville Games
200 men and women in wheelchairs competed at the 1948 Stoke Mandeville Games
