when was the first winter paralympic games held
Winter Paralympic Games The Winter Paralympics began in 1976 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Those Games were the first Paralympics (Summer or Winter) that featured athletes other than wheelchair athletes. The Games have expanded and grown to be (along with the Summer Games) part of the largest international sporting event after the Olympic Games. Given their expansion, the need for a very specific classification system has arisen. This system has also given rise to controversy and opened the door for cheating. Winter Paralympians have also been convicted of steroid use and other forms of cheating unique to Paralympic athletes, which has tainted the integrity of the Games.
Winter Olympic Games The original five Winter Olympics sports (broken into nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol,[nb 2] cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating).[nb 3] The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 by World War II, and resumed in 1948. Until 1992 the Winter and Summer Olympic Games were held in the same years, but in accordance with a 1986 decision by the IOC to place the Summer and Winter Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years, the next Winter Olympics after 1992 was in 1994.