Winter Paralympic Games Trivia

Some interesting facts and figures from the Winter Paralympic Games.

The first Paralympic Games were called the "First Winter Olympic Games for the Disabled"
Only two sports were on the first Paralympic Games program, alpine skiing and cross-country skiing. (see changes). These sports have been at every Winter Paralympics since.
Ice sledge racing was included as a demonstration event at the first Paralympic Winter Games in 1976.
Innsbruck, Austria, hosted back-to-back editions of the winter Paralympics in 1984 and 1988
The most decorated winter Paralympian is Norway’s Ragnhild Myklebust with 27 medals (22 golds, three silvers and three bronze). She competed in biathlon, cross-country skiing and ice sledge speed racing.
Canadian Lauren Woolstencroft won all five alpine skiing events at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.
Para snowboard is the most recent Paralympic winter sport to be added to the program, in Sochi, Russia 2014, though it was initially added as a discipline of alpine skiing. It became a separate sports category for 2018.
Beijing was the first city to host both the Winter and Summer Paralympics, in 2008 and 2022.
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops in early 2022, the Winter Paralympic athletes from Russia and Belarus were only be allowed to compete as neutrals at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing. The two countries competed under the Paralympic flag and were not included on the medal table.
Norway are the most successful country at the Paralympic Winter Games, as they are in the Winter Olympics.

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