Photo Source: Georgian Paralympic Committee Facebook Page
Sport for athletes with an impairment has existed for more than 100 years, and the first sport clubs for the deaf were already existing in 1888 in Berlin. But a wider introduction started after World War II. In 1944, at the request of the British Government, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann opened a spinal injuries center at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Great Britain, for war veterans and civilians who had been injured during wartime.
On 29 July 1948, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, Dr. Guttmann organized the first competition for wheelchair athletes, which he named the Stoke Mandeville Games. This event was a significant milestone in the history of the Paralympic Games. They involved 16 injured servicemen and women who took part in archery.
The Stoke Mandeville Games later became the Paralympic Games which first took place in Rome, Italy, in 1960, featuring more than 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since then, they have taken place every four years.
For the first time, Georgia participated at the Paralympics in Beijing in 2008 with one para-athlete. In 2012, at the London Paralympics two athletes represented the Georgian team, at Rio 2016 there were five para-athletes and at Tokyo 2020 nine participants.
Zviad Gogochuri, Photo Source: Gjf.ge
Zviad Gogotchuri is a visually impaired Georgian Paralympic judoka. He is responsible for winning the first-ever gold at the Paralympic Games for Georgia. He won a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympics in the 90 kg category.
This year’s Paralympic Games, Paris 2024 turned out to be the most successful for Georgian para-athletes, with 14 participants winning 9 medals in total, from which 1 was gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals. With this result, Georgia took 51st place in the Olympic Medal Table.
Ana Japaridze, Photo Source: Marao.ge
Georgian para taekwondo practitioner Ana Japaridze brought the first medal for Georgia at Paris 2024. Being the youngest Georgian athlete at the Paris Paralympics, 19-year-old Ana, took a bronze medal. One might have seen her viral video with famous chinese actor Jackie Chan, where he was “casually fixing her hair before the Paralympic award ceremony”.
Giga Ochkhikidze, Photo Source: Civil.ge
Giga Ochkhikidze became the second Paralympic athlete in Georgian history to win a gold medal. 33-year-old Georgian won a gold medal in men’s shot put F53. (The F53 classification is for athletes with good shoulder and elbow and wrist strength, with weaknesses in fingers only, and little to no movement in their legs or torso. Athletes throw from a seated position.) Ochkhikidze also set a world record by putting the shot 9.66 meters.
- Georgian wheelchair fencer Nino Tibilashvili won a bronze medal in the Sabre A event.
- Vladimer Tchintcharauli won a silver medal in the mixed 50 meter rifle prone SH2 event in shooting.
- Georgian Paralympic judoka Zurab Zurabiani won a silver medal in the men’s -60 kg J2 event.
- Georgian Paralympic judoka Giorgi Kaldani won a silver medal in the men’s -73 kg J2 event.
- Visually impaired Georgian Paralympic judoka Ina Kaldani won a bronze medal in the women’s 70 Kg J2 event.
- Georgian Paralympic judoka Revaz Chikoidze won a silver medal in the men’s +90 Kg J2 event.
- Georgian Paralympic powerlifter Akaki Jintcharadze won the bronze medal in the men’s +107 kg event. It was the last Olympic medal for Georgians at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
The 2028 Summer Paralympics are branded as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28, which is scheduled to take place from August 15 to August 27, 2028, in Los Angeles, California, United States.
