Paralympics

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Grammarist

The term Paralympics was coined in 1988. We will examine the definition of the word Paralympics, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

The Paralympics is a casual term for the Paralympic Games, a multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, patterned after the Olympic Games. The Paralympics are held following the Olympics in both winter and summer, and ten categories of impairment are recognized. Paralympic athletes are world-class athletes. The Paralympic Games began as a sporting event for World War II veterans in 1948 in Stoke Mandeville, England. The term Paralympics first appeared in 1953, though the Paralympic Games did not become the official name of the event until 1988. The word Paralympic is a portmanteau of the words paraplegic or paralyzed and Olympic. A portmanteau is a word constructed by blending the sounds and meanings of two different words. Note that Paralympics and Paralympic Games are terms that are capitalized. A person who participates in the Paralympics is called a Paralympian.

Examples

Nearly two weeks before the Paralympics, Masters slipped on ice in a parking lot in Bozeman, Mont., where she’s been training since early November. She dislocated her right elbow, and the injury kept her off snow training for nearly a week. (USA Today)

PyeongChang: A snowboarder who agonisingly missed competing in Sochi after a heavy crash in her final training run will carry the flag for Australia at Friday night’s Winter Paralympics opening ceremony. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Winter Paralympics 2018: Double amputee Micky Yule on accepting ‘dangerous’ skeleton challenge and taking on world champion (The Evening Standard)

The soon-to-be 20-year-old (his birthday is March 25) played for Canada in wheelchair basketball at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. (The Gander Beacon)

Courage and determination runs through the veins of two-time Paralympian and Vanderbilt professor Anjali Forber-Pratt. (Vanderbilt University News)