1944: Sir Ludwig Guttman, a spinal-injury specialist, was appointed director of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, which was established to help soldiers injured in World War II. He believed sport was a method of therapy, bolstering the physical strength and self-respect of the disabled.
1948: Guttman organized the first international competition for the disabled. The International Wheelchair Games coincided with the 1948 London Olympic Games.
1952: Competitions for the disabled continued to grow. Guttman's Stoke Mandeville Games for the disabled and wheelchair-bound drew 130 international competitors.
1956: The Stoke Mandeville Games were lauded by Olympic officials. Guttman's brainchild was awarded the Fearnley Cup ? an award for outstanding contribution to the Olympic ideal.
1960: The first Paralympic Games were held in Rome, after the Summer Olympic Games, the first time the Paralympics were officially connected with the Olympic movement. Some 400 wheelchair athletes from 23 countries competed.
1968: Paralympics were held in Israel.
1976: Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, hosted the first Paralympic Winter Games. Fourteen nations were represented by 250 athletes.
1980: Geilo, Norway, hosted the second Paralympic Winter Games.
1982: The International Coordinating Committee of World Sports Organizations for the Disabled (ICC) was established as a counterpart to the IOC.
1988: The Paralympics were held in Seoul after Korea's 1998 Summer Games. It marked the first time Paralympians used the same venues, facilities and logistics as able-bodied athletes.
1989: The International Coordinating Committee set up a headquarters in Bonn, Germany. The ICC established sports and medical codes for athletes and administered the sale of marketing rights.
1992: The ICC was restructured and became the International Paralympic Committee.
1994: Paralympics held in Lillehammer, Norway. The roster of participating countries grew to 31; some 550 athletes competed.
1997: The Salt Lake Organizing Committee and the IPC signed a host-city contract with the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games.
1998: The Paralympics continued to attract more athletes. In Nagano, Japan, immediately after the Winter Games, 571 athletes participated in winter-sport events.
2002: Some 550 athletes from 35 countries are expected to compete at Salt Lake's Paralympic Games.
Sources: SLOC, U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs.