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1984 Summer Paralympics

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The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, commonly known as the 1984 Summer Paralympics, were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. There were two separate competitions: one in Stoke Mandeville, England, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes with spinal cord injuries and the other at the Mitchel Athletic Complex and Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, United States for wheelchair and ambulatory athletes with cerebral palsy, amputees, and les autres [the others] (conditions as well as blind and visually impaired athletes). Stoke Mandeville had been the location of the Stoke Mandeville Games from 1948 onwards, seen as the precursors to the Paralympic Games, as the 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games in Rome in 1960 are now recognised as the first Summer Paralympics.[1]

VII Paralympic Games
LocationNassau County, New York, United States
Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
Nations45 (USA)
41 (GBR)
Athletes1,800 (USA)
1,100 (GBR)
Events~300 in 15 sports (USA)
603 in 10 sports (GBR)
Opening17 June (USA)
22 July (GBR)
Closing30 June (USA)
1 August (GBR)
Opened by
President Ronald Reagan (USA)
Charles, Prince of Wales (GBR)
StadiumMitchel Athletic Complex (USA)
Stoke Mandeville Stadium (GBR)
Summer
Winter
1984 Summer Olympics

As with the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, the Soviet Union and other communist countries, except China, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia, boycotted the Paralympic Games.[2] The Soviet Union did not participate in the Paralympics at the time, arguing that they have no disabled people (called "invalids" by Soviet officials) in the country.[3] The USSR made its Paralympic debut in 1988, during Perestroika.

The 1984 Paralympic Games were the last Summer Games not to be staged by the same host city as the Olympic Games. Seoul hosted both events in 1988, a pattern maintained thereafter.

Ceremonies

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In the opening ceremonies, patchy showers greeted the 14,000 spectators packed into the Mitchel Park stadium for the 2pm start of the New York Games opening ceremony on 19 June.[4] New York radio personality William B. Williams introduced everyone with a welcome speech.[4] Entertainers such as Bill Buzzeo and the Dixie Ramblers, Richie Havens, The New Image Drum and Bugle Corps, the ARC Gospel Chorus and the Square Dance Extravaganza followed the introduction speech.[4] At the closing ceremonies, Commander Archie Cameron, President of ICC officially closed the games with a short speech acknowledging the athletes and the next host city, Seoul, South Korea and was to be held in conjunction with the 1988 Summer Olympics. The flag of the Games was lowered and American athletes carried the flag back to the honor stand where they handed over to the President of the Organizing Committee, Dr William T. Callahan and Cameron.[4]

Mascot

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Dan D. Lion
 
Mascot of the 1984 Summer Paralympics (New York)
CreatorMaryanne McGrath Higgins
SignificanceA lion

The mascot for the 1984 Paralympic Games was Dan D. Lion, which was designed by an art teacher, Maryanne McGrath Higgins. The name was voted on by students of the Human Resources School (now Henry Viscardi School), a school in Albertson, New York for students with severe physical impairments.[5][6] Another mascot named Dan D. Lion, with a different design, was the mascot for the British team in the Stoke Mandeville portion of the Games.[7]

Sports

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Competitors were divided into five disability-specific categories: amputee, cerebral palsy, visually impaired, wheelchair, and les autres (athletes with physical disabilities that had not been eligible to compete in previous Games). The wheelchair category was for those competitors who used a wheelchair due to a spinal cord disability. However some athletes in the amputee and cerebral palsy categories also competed in wheelchairs. Within the sport of athletics, a wheelchair marathon event was held for the first time. The trials for the two wheelchair events to be held at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games was held in conjunction with the New York Games. However, despite the long and established history of using "paralympic" terminology, in the United States the US Olympic Committee prohibited the Games organizers from using the term. The seventeen contested sports are listed below, along with the disability categories which competed in each.[8]

Medal table

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Main article: 1984 Summer Paralympics medal table

The host nations, Great Britain and the United States, are highlighted. Bahrain, China, Jordan, Trinidad and Tobago won their first ever medals, with Luxembourg winning a first ever gold.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  United States*137131129397
2  Great Britain*107112112331
3  Canada878269238
4  Sweden834334160
5  West Germany817675232
6  France716946186
7  Netherlands555228135
8  Australia495451154
9  Poland463921106
10  Norway30303090
11  Denmark30131659
12  Spain22101244
13  Belgium21231458
14  Ireland20153166
15  Finland18142759
16  Switzerland18131243
17  Austria14201044
18  Hungary1213328
19  Israel11211244
20  Yugoslavia11101132
21  Italy9191442
22  Japan97824
23  New Zealand810725
24  Brazil717428
25  Mexico6141737
26  Portugal43714
27  Hong Kong35917
28  China212822
29  Trinidad and Tobago2013
30  Luxembourg1416
31  Kuwait1348
32  Burma1214
33  Egypt1157
34  Kenya1113
35  East Germany0314
36  Iceland02810
37  India0224
  South Korea0224
39  Jordan0123
  Zimbabwe0123
41  Bahamas0112
  Indonesia0112
43  Bahrain0022
Totals (43 entries)9789518512,780

Participating delegations

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Fifty-four delegations took part in the 1984 Paralympics. Bahrain, China, East Germany, Faroe Islands, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela made their first appearances, India and Portugal returned to the Games after a 12-year absence.[9]

Reception at the host cities

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Odeda Rosenthal, a professor of humanities at a local community college on Long Island and translator for the Austrian team highlighted a number of problems at the games in a series of articles.[4] She highlighted a number of issues such as poor communication, administrative hiccups and even bus drivers not knowing the routes to scheduled events that even caused some teams to miss events completely.[4] Rosenthal continues by slamming the work by the Police Chief claiming the Chief "took the opposite tack of anything that was suggested to sort out the mess".[4] However, overall reports and the general impression exuded by the games included a friendly atmosphere and volunteers trying their hardest under difficult conditions.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "2012 – The Paralympics come home", BBC, 4 July 2008
  2. ^ Bailey, Steve (2008). Athlete First: A history of the paralympic movement. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 35–26. ISBN 9780470058244.
  3. ^ Phillips, Sarah D. (2009). "'There Are No Invalids in the USSR!': A Missing Soviet Chapter in the New Disability History". Disability Studies Quarterly. 29 (3). Ohio State University Libraries; Society for Disability Studies. doi:10.18061/dsq.v29i3.936. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Brittain, Ian (2012). From Stoke Mandeville to Stratford: A history of the Summer Paralympic Games. Illinois: Common Ground Publishing.
  5. ^ "New York 1984 Paralympic Mascot Dan D. Lion – Photos & History". www.paralympic.org. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  6. ^ "New York 1984 Paralympic Summer Games". National Paralympic Heritage Trust. 28 February 1982. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Mascots". National Paralympic Heritage Trust. 3 January 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Stoke Mandeville & New York 1984". International Paralympic Committee. 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  9. ^ "Medal Standings – New York / Stoke Mandevile 1984 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
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Preceded by Summer Paralympics
New York–Stoke Mandeville
VII Paralympic Summer Games (1984) 		Succeeded by
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