HISTORY OF PARALYMPIC MEDALS

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Photo Credit ‘Buda Mendes/Getty Images’

The need to create trophies and medals for Para athletes arose at the Stoke Mandeville Games – the predecessor of the Paralympic Games and Paralympic Winter Games – which began in 1948.

While today, as part of the co-operation agreement between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), medals for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games have to be made of the same materials and be of similar design, in the past, it was up to the local Organising Committee of the Games to produce their own medals.

The Stoke Mandeville Games did not always feature medals. However, they did have trophies and diplomas for the participating athletes.

Medals for athletes have been used in every games since Rome 1960 - click through the gallery below to see a selection of Paralympic medals through the years.