Women's wheelchair racing, London Marathon 2011

Washington — This summer between August 29 and September 9, millions of people will flood London to see 4,200 athletes from 160 countries compete in 20 sports.

But these athletes — unlike those who will be competing in the weeks preceding them — may be missing an arm or a leg, or perhaps be visually impaired. These are the competitors of the International Paralympic Games, and this year the games are the largest ever.

“The practice of sport is a human right,” according to the charter of the International Olympic Committee, the international corporation that organizes the modern Olympic games. In 2001, the International Olympic Committee and its counterpart, the International Paralympic Committee, signed an agreement that ensured that future contracts with host cities would encompass both sets of Olympic games.

The “Olympic spirit,” the charter says, “requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

The 2012 London games are a homecoming for the Paralympics, which began in 1948 in the United Kingdom with a small gathering of disabled British World War II veterans. Those earliest games owe thanks to Dr. Ludwig Guttmann of Britain’s Stoke Mandeville Hospital, who organized these events for veterans being treated there for spinal cord injuries.

In 1952, veterans from the Netherlands were invited to take part, creating the first international competition for athletes with disabilities.

The 1960 Rome Paralympic Games were expanded from war veterans to all athletes in wheelchairs; later games included athletes with different disabilities.

AN INTEGRATED WHOLE

The word “Paralympic” derives from the Greek preposition “para” (beside or alongside) and the word “Olympic.” The Paralympics stand beside the Olympic Games and emphasize the abilities rather than disabilities of the athletes who compete.

According to Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organizing committee for the 2012 Summer Paralympic and Olympic games, the two games “are an integrated whole.”

The Motto for the Paralympic movement is “Spirit in Motion.” For Bridie Keen of Australia, who competes in wheelchair basketball, sports has taught her how to work in a team environment and how to work toward a goal.

“Sport is like life,” she says on the Paralympic Movement website. “The more you work on something, the better you become.” Her guiding maxim: “Always focus on what can be done, not on what cannot be changed.”

Jessica Galli of the United States has competed in three Paralympic Games. A 1991 car accident left her a paraplegic when she was 7 years old, but Galli says she loves the speed involved in wheelchair racing.

“My number one advice,” Galli says on the Paralympic Movement website, “is to make sure you are having fun!”