The importance of The Poppa Guttmann Trust project – to create a permanent new statue of him at Stoke Mandeville – was to recognise and celebrate the life, work and legacy of Sir Ludwig "Poppa" Guttmann.

In the year of the Paralympics returning to their country of birth at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, it was felt long overdue to have a permanent tribute to the man who saved spinal cord injured people and restored them to a useful and confident way of life.

Having found the answer to survival for his patients, he introduced sport to their rehabilitation.


He had the vision that this would become a global phenomenon and deliberately picked the first day of the London Olympic Games in 1948 for the first Stoke Mandeville Games to show that disability did not mean inability.

The unveiling of the new and only statue of Poppa Guttmann this weekend acted as a reunion for patients and staff from the days of Guttmann, reviving and stimulating the spirit of Stoke Mandeville.

With Paralympics coming home, we realised there would be a lot of focus on this remarkable man but possibly his greatest achievement might be overshadowed by his initiation of the Paralympics.

While everyone is astonished how his vision that sport for disabled people would become this global phenomenon, what must be acknowledged and not overlooked is his brilliance in saving and restoring people's lives following a spinal cord injury.


Without that, the life expectancy for someone with a spinal injury would have continued to be frighteningly short and virtually useless.

Sport for disabled people would not have developed had Guttmann not been able to use his medical ability first and then initiate the Stoke Mandeville Games.

A man to salute.

Mike Mackenzie is the chairman of The Poppa Guttmann Trust. One of the key objectives of The Trust is to advance the education of the Paralympic Movement and the work of Sir Ludwig Guttmann in the treatment of spinal cord injuries. Mackenzie played a leading role in bringing about the creation of the permanent life-size bronze statue of Sir Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville as well as a cast bronze bust of the Paralympic founder that will appear at every Paralympic Games from London 2012 onwards.