Fifty years ago last month, thirteen Australians joined almost four hundred athletes from around the world in Rome to contest what we now know as the first Paralympic Games.

I doubt that any of those athletes, or the 5,000 spectators who attended the opening ceremony of those first Games, could have imagined that half a century later the Paralympic Games would be at the centre of one of the great sports movements of the world, and that the thirteenth Paralympic Summer Games in Beijing would feature 4,000 athletes from 145 countries, be witnessed by up to 3.4 million spectators and a worldwide cumulative television audience of 38 billion.

The Paralympic Movement has a great civilising influence on the world. It also produces great athletes, from our original Paralympians through to the modern day champions.

The achievements of Paralympic athletes have had a profound impact on attitudes and perceptions by challenging stereotypes.

In Australia, the achievements of Paralympic athletes such as Louise Sauvage (pictured), Michael Milton, Matthew Cowdrey and Kurt Fearnley, rank with any in sport today.



I am very proud that Australians have played a positive and constructive role in supporting the growth of the Paralympic Movement in our country and internationally. 

While Australians have participated at every Paralympic Games, the 2000 Sydney Games certainly played its part in highlighting the quality of Paralympic sport and encouraging the nations of the world to appreciate the sheer athletic performance, as well as the potential of the spectacle of the Paralympic Games.

Those Games made an enormous contribution to highlighting the values and ideals of Paralympism and emphasised excellence as the hallmark of a Paralympic athlete.

I think that the greatest tribute that we can offer to our original Paralympians is the current position and status of the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Movement, plus a commitment that the best is yet to come.

Greg Hartung is President of the Australian Paralympic Committee