1968 Summer Paralympics

The 1968 Summer Paralympics (Hebrew: המשחקים הפאראלימפיים ה-3‎) were the third Paralympic Games to be held. Organised under the guidance of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), they were known as the 17th International Stoke Mandeville Games at the time.[2] The games were originally planned to be held alongside the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, but in 1966, the Mexican government decided against it due to difficulties.[3] The Israeli government offered to host the games in Tel Aviv, a suggestion that was accepted.

III Paralympic Games
Host cityTel Aviv, Israel[1]
Nations28
Athletes750
Events181 in 10 sports
Opening4 November
Closing13 November
Opened by
Yigal Allon
StadiumHebrew University Stadium
← Tokyo 1964 Heidelberg 1972 →

The opening ceremony took place in the Hebrew University stadium at the Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem and the games took place in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District, at the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled. The closing ceremony took place in the Tel Aviv Trade Center. Therefore, these games were the first in Paralympic history to not be held concurrently with the Olympic Games.

Sports

Lawn bowls was included in the program for the first time. In wheelchair basketball, a women's team event was added, as was a 100 m wheelchair race for men in athletics.[4]

Medal table
Main article: 1968 Summer Paralympics medal table

The top ten listed NOCs by number of gold medals are listed below. The host nation, Israel, is highlighted.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States33273999
2 Great Britain29202069
3 Israel*18212362
4 Australia1516738
5 France1310932
6 West Germany12121135
7 Italy12101739
8 Netherlands124420
9 Argentina10101030
10 South Africa910726
Totals (10 nations)163140147450

Participating delegations

Twenty-eight delegations took part in the Tel Aviv Paralympics.[5] Canada, Denmark, Ethiopia, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Korea and Spain took part in the Summer Paralympics for the first time.

Having made its Paralympic Games début four years earlier, South Africa continued to compete at the Paralympics, by sending a delegation to the Tel Aviv Games. It was, at the time, banned from the Olympic Games due to its policy of apartheid, but it was not banned from the Paralympics until 1980.[6][7]

References
  1. Although officially called the Tel Aviv Paralympics, the opening ceremony was conducted in Jerusalem and the games took place in Ramat Gan.
  2. Summer Games Governance 1960 to 1992. International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation. Retrieved on 2011-05-07.
  3. "1968 Tel Aviv". insidethegames.biz. Dunsar Media Company. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  4. "Tel Aviv 1968". International Paralympic Committee. 2008. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
  5. "Medal Standings - Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. 2008. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
  6. "'The Netherlands against Apartheid' - 1970s", International Institute of Social History
  7. South Africa at the Paralympics, International Paralympic Committee
Preceded by
Tokyo		 Summer Paralympics
Tel Aviv
III Paralympic Summer Games (1968)		 Succeeded by
Heidelberg
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