In the 57 years since Tokyo first hosted the Paralympic Games, the event – and the sports it comprises – have changed beyond recognition. The Tokyo 1964 Games marked the first time the word “paralympic” was used.
At the time, the term described 21 countries represented by 378 athletes, a small minority (75) of whom were female. The events comprised nine sports, but only individuals with spinal cord injuries were eligible to compete. As the 2020 Paralympics open, those numbers are almost incomparably larger.
From 1964 to 2020: Paralympics Return to Tokyo Having Evolved from Rehabilitation to a Spectacle
