The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Games as organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
They were the first Summer Paralympics to be hosted by London, and the first hosted solely by Great Britain; the English village of Stoke Mandeville co-hosted the 1984 Games with Long Island, New York after its original host, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, withdrew due to financial issues. In 1948, the village hosted the Stoke Mandeville Games—the first organised sporting event for athletes with disabilities, and a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games—to coincide with the opening of the 1948 Olympics in London.
Organisers expected the Games to be the first Paralympics to achieve mass-market appeal, fuelled by continued enthusiasm over Great Britain's performance during the Olympics, awareness of England's role in the history of the Paralympics, South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius (who had become the first double amputee to compete in the Summer Olympics alongside non-disabled athletes), and increasing media coverage and promotion of Paralympic sport (including a major advertising campaign by the Games' British broadcaster Channel 4). The Games ultimately met these expectations, breaking records for ticket sales, heightening the profile of the Paralympics in relation to the Olympics, and prompting IPC president Philip Craven to declare them the "greatest Paralympic Games ever."
A total of 503 events in 20 sports were held during the Games; events for athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID) returned to the Paralympic programme after being suspended following the 2000 Summer Paralympics, The Games were contested by a record 4,302 athletes representing 164 National Paralympic Committees, with 14 countries making their Paralympic debut. For the third Summer Paralympics in a row, China won the most medals overall, with a total of 231 (95 of them being gold), followed by Russia and Great Britain.
Venues[]
Venues | Location | Events |
---|---|---|
Olympic Stadium | Greater London | Opening/closing ceremonies, Athletics |
London Aquatics Centre | Swimming | |
Basketball Arena | Wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball | |
Eton Manor | Wheelchair tennis | |
Copper Box Arena | Goalball | |
Velodrome | Cycling (track) | |
Riverbank Arena | Football 7-a-side, football 5-a-side | |
ExCeL London | Boccia, judo, powerlifting, table tennis, volleyball (sitting), wheelchair fencing | |
Greenwich Park | Equestrian | |
The O2 Arena (North Greenwich Arena) |
Wheelchair basketball | |
Royal Artillery Barracks | Archery, shooting | |
Marathon Course | Athletics (marathon) | |
Brands Hatch | Swanley, Kent | Cycling (road) |
Dorney Lake | Dorney, Buckinghamshire | Rowing |
Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy | Isle of Portland, Dorset | Sailing |
Broadcasting[]
Country | TV Rights Holders |
---|---|
Australia | ABC1, ABC2 |
Brazil | Rede Globo, SporTV |
Canada | Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium (TSN, RDS, CTV, Sportsnet One, TSN2, RDS2, AMI-tv) |
China | CCTV |
Colombia | Señal Colombia |
Denmark | DR HD |
Europe | European Broadcasting Union |
Finland | Yle |
France | France Ô, TV8 Mont-Blanc |
Germany | ARD, ZDF |
Greece | NET |
Ireland | Setanta Sports, RTÉ Two |
Italy | Sky Italia, RAI |
Japan | NHK |
New Zealand | Sky Sport, Prime |
Norway | NRK1, NRK2 |
Russia | VGTRK |
Singapore | MediaCorp |
South Africa | SuperSport, SABC2 |
South Korea | KBS |
Spain | Teledeporte, TVE HD |
Sweden | SVT1, SVT2, SVT24, SVT Play |
Thailand | Television Pool of Thailand (Channel 3, Channel 5, BBTV Channel 7, Modernine TV) |
Turkey | TRT |
United Kingdom | Channel 4, More4, Freesat, Sky, Virgin TV, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra |
United States | NBC Sports Network, NBC |