2008 Summer Paralympics

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox Olympic games

The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (Template:Zh), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was first time the new Paralympic logo featured in the Summer Paralympics since its rebranding after the 2004 Summer Paralympics. The Paralympics (both Summer and Winter) held in Beijing is the first and only to be held with spectator, as the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing held without spectator due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

3,951 athletes from 146 countries took part,<ref name="overview">"Beijing 2008", International Paralympic Committee</ref> the largest number of nations ever (ten more than the 2004 Games in Athens). Five countries competed for the first time.<ref>"CPC announces Canadian team for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games in China" Template:Webarchive, Canadian Paralympic Committee, July 8, 2008.</ref> As host country, China fielded more athletes than any other country. The slogan for the 2008 Paralympics was the same as the 2008 Summer Olympics, "One World, One Dream" (Template:Zh Pinyin Tóng yīge shìjìe tóng yīge mèngxiǎng, lit. "One World, One Dream"). China dominated the medal count, finishing with 89 gold medals and 211 total medals, more than double the next-ranked NPC in both cases. 339 Paralympic records and 279 world records were broken.<ref name="overview" /> International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Philip Craven declared the Games "the greatest Paralympic Games ever."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Beijing was selected to host the 2022 Winter Paralympics, making it the first city to host both Summer and Winter Games.

Venues

Template:2008 Summer Paralympics

Template:Main

Nineteen competition venues were selected—seventeen in Beijing, one in Hong Kong, and one in Qingdao.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Beijing National Stadium (Bird Nest) - Athletics, Opening and closing ceremonies
Beijing National Aquatics Center (Water Cube) - Swimming
Beijing National Indoor Stadium (Fan) - Wheelchair basketball
Fencing Gymnasium of Olympic Green Convention Centre - Boccia, Wheelchair fencing
Olympic Green Archery Field - Archery
Olympic Green Hockey Field - Football 5-a-side, Football 7-a-side
Olympic Green Tennis Centre (Flowers) - Wheelchair tennis
Peking University Gymnasium - Table tennis
Beihang University Gymnasium - Powerlifting
China Agricultural University Gymnasium - Sitting volleyball
Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium - Wheelchair rugby
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium - Goalball
Beijing Shooting Range Hall - Shooting
Laoshan Velodrome - Cycling (track)
Workers Gymnasium - Judo
Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park - Rowing
Triathlon Venue - Cycling (road)
Hong Kong Equestrian Venues - Equestrian
Qingdao International Sailing Centre - Sailing

Symbols

Emblem

The Games's emblem, "Sky, Earth, and Human Beings" (Template:Zh), was unveiled in July 2004, a multicolored Chinese character "之" (Template:Zh) stylized as an athletic figure in motion. Its red, blue and green colors represent sun, sky and earth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Slogan

The slogan was the same as the 2008 Summer Olympics, "One World, One Dream".

File:Paralympic 2008 Mascot.svg

Fu Niu Lele, mascot of the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Mascots

The mascot was a cartoon cow named Fu Niu Lele (Template:Zh), roughly meaning "Lucky Ox 'Happy'".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Theme song

The theme song was "Flying with the Dream" Template:Zh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was performed by Chinese-Tibetan singer Han Hong and Hong Kong singer and actor Andy Lau.

Torch relay

Template:Main The torch relay of the 2008 Summer Paralympics started from Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven) on August 28. The flame then gathered before The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿) and followed two routes (the "Route of Ancient China" and the "Route of Modern China"). Both routes returned to Beijing on September 5, and the torch was flamed at the National Stadium during the Opening Ceremony on September 6.

The Games

Template:Further2

Opening ceremony

Template:Main The opening ceremony took place on September 6, 2008. The pre-ceremony performance was a succession of various musical performances, ranging from military music to folk music and a performance of Ode to Joy.<ref name="paralympic1">"Full Coverage: The Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games" Template:Webarchive, Xinhua, September 6, 2008.</ref> Following a countdown, a fireworks display signalled the beginning of the ceremony proper. The national flag of China was then raised, in accordance with usual protocol, and the national anthem of China performed.<ref name="paralympic1"/> Performers wearing suits in bright colours paraded round the stadium, as a welcoming ceremony preceding the athletes' entry.<ref name="paralympic1"/> As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, the ceremony included a parade of nations, with a flag bearer for each national team. Contrary to Olympic tradition, the national team of Greece did not enter first, as the Paralympic Games traces its roots to Stoke Mandeville rather than Olympia; the host country, as is customary in both Olympic and Paralympic Games, came last. As Chinese is written in characters and not letters, the order of the teams' entry was determined by the number of strokes in the first character of their respective countries' Simplified Chinese names.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Countries with the same number of strokes in the first character are sorted by those of the next character. This made Guinea (几内亚) the first country to enter as it takes two strokes to write the first character in the country's name (几). Following the athletes' parade, a performance took place, divided into chapters and sub-chapters entitled the "Journey of Space" and "Journey of Life".<ref name="paralympic1"/> The sunbird performance entailed Yang Haitao (杨海涛), a singer with a visual impairment, singing about dreams while an acrobat in sunbird costume descended in simulated flight from the air and "awakened the blind singer from his sleep".<ref name="paralympic1"/> The ceremony concludes with Hou Bin, the first Chinese paralympian to be three-time champion consecutively in the same event, lifted himself and his wheelchair up on a rope by strength of arms to the top of Beijing National Stadium, where he lit the cauldron to mark the beginning of the Games.<ref name="People1">Peopledaily. "Peopledaily.com." China opens Beijing Paralympic Games in celebration of life and humanity. Retrieved on September 14, 2008.</ref>

Closing ceremony

Template:Main The 2008 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium. It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on September 17, 2008.<ref name="people1">English People's Daily. "People's daily." 2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony – Beijing. Retrieved on September 28, 2008.</ref>

Sports

The programme of the 2008 Summer Paralympics featured events in 20 sports.<ref name=guardian-massmarket>Template:Cite news</ref> The number of events in each sport is noted in parentheses.

Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Rowing made its first appearance in the Paralympics at these games.

Calendar

Template:2008 Summer Paralympics Calendar

Participating NPCs

The following National Paralympic Committees sent delegations to compete.<ref>Official list Template:Webarchive, International Paralympic Committee.</ref> Macau and the Faroe Islands are members of the International Paralympic Committee, but not of the International Olympic Committee; hence they participate in the Paralympic Games but not in the Olympics.

Burundi, Gabon, Georgia, Haiti Montenegro and Serbia participated in the Paralympics for the first time.<ref name="overview" />

Botswana was due to take part, but its single athlete, defending Paralympic champion sprinter Tshotlego Morama, withdrew prior to the Games due to injury. The country's last-minute attempt to field other athletes in her place was rejected, as they did not meet the requirement of having participated in international events.<ref>"Botswna locked out of Paralympics", Mmegi, September 5, 2008</ref>

Participating National Paralympic Committees
Template:Div col File:Flag of Afghanistan (2013–2021).svg Afghanistan Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink (host) Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:FlagIPC Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:FlagIPC Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:FlagIPC Template:FlagIPC Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Flaglink Template:Div col end

Medal count

Template:Main

This table is based on the medal count of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

The ranking is sorted primarily by the number of gold medals earned by a National Paralympic Committee. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IPC Country Code.

2008 Summer Paralympics medal table

Events highlights

Template:Main

International television

Template:Flagcountry – ABC1 and ABC2.
Template:Flagcountry – SporTV2 and Terra Networks.
Template:Flagcountry – Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in English and Société Radio Canada (SRC) in French.
Template:Flagcountry – Chinese Central Television (CCTV) provided coverage on CCTV-1 (opening and closing ceremony), CCTV-5 and CCTV-7 as all direct live telecast transmission.
Template:Flagcountry – Eurosport
Template:Flagcountry – NHK's NHK General TV provided coverage on JOAK-1
Template:Flagcountry – AZTV
Template:Flagcountry – NRK
Template:Flagcountry – Sveriges Television
Template:Flagcountry – TRT
Template:Flagcountry – Universal Sports
Template:Flagcountry – BBC provided coverage on BBC Television's BBC One.

In France, following the Games, Philippe Juvin, national secretary of the governing Union for a Popular Movement, accused national public television network France Télévisions of having practiced "segregation" by providing live coverage of the Beijing Olympics but only ten-minute daily summaries of events, outside prime time, for the Beijing Paralympics. France Télévisions replied that it would take Juvin to court for slander.<ref>"Paralympiques: L'UMP accuse" Template:Webarchive, Journal du dimanche, September 19, 2008.</ref><ref>"Jeux paralympiques: France TV va attaquer Juvin (UMP) pour diffamation" Template:Webarchive, Agence France-Presse, September 18, 2008.</ref>

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Commons category

Template:S-start Template:Succession box Template:S-end

Template:EventsAt2008SummerParalympics Template:NPCin2008SummerParalympics Template:Navbox

Template:Authority control

2008 Summer Paralympics

Contents

Venues