SPIRIT in MOTION As the Paralympic Movement Grows in Stature Every Year, We Look at the History of the Games
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CULTURE, MEDIA & SPORT | OPINION FACTS & FIGURES | CULTURE, MEDIA & SPORT SPIRIT IN MOTION As the Paralympic movement grows in stature every year, we look at the history of the games IN WHAT WAYS HAS THE THE PIONEER 1948 DR LUDWIG GUTTMANN, a Jewish doctor The Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralysed, BRITISH POLITICAL SYSTEM an archery event between two teams of born in Germany and specialising in spinal injuries, BECOME INCREASINGLY disabled athletes, takes place at the hospital comes to England in 1939. In 1944 he takes up a post on the same day as the opening ceremony PRESIDENTIALISED? at Stoke Mandeville hospital to treat patients with for the 1948 Summer Olympics at Wembley. paraplegia. But Guttmann is concerned with more OPINION than the patients’ physical problems – he believes in 1949-1951 rehabilitation. The seeds of a movement are sown… Stoke Mandeville Games ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS any student will learn about politics in the United Kingdom 1952 1960 The International Stoke The ninth ISMG* takes place in is that we have a parliamentary rather than PM OR WINTER Mandeville Games (ISMG) takes Rome – overseas for the first time. a presidential system. But the reality is that PRESIDENT? place – the first international It features 400 athletes from 23 PARALYMPICS Games, where a team from countries and later becomes known British politics has become increasingly Holland also participates. as the first Paralympics. The ‘presidentialised’ and nowhere is this more • 1976: The first competition is confined 1953 -1959 to those with spinal evident than in contemporary media coverage, By Professor Susan Banducci Winter Paralympics International Stoke cord injuries. exacerbated since 2010 by the introduction of and Dr Daniel Stevens takes place in Mandeville Games 1968 Ornskoldsvik, Sweden. Slalom, leaders’ election or referendum debates. Wasn’t Tel Aviv, Israel: giant slalom and Nordic skiing 1964 Mexico City, where the Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo is the it always like this? You could point to Margaret Summer Games take for amputees and visually last Games, until Seoul place, is deemed unsuitable Thatcher, Harold Wilson, Harold Macmillan, impaired athletes are the main 1988, when Olympic as a venue because of and Paralympic athletes David Lloyd George or William Gladstone as events. Ice sledge racing is a its high altitude compete in the same city. presidential figures in British political history. demonstration sport. 198 athletes and lack of from 16 countries take part. 1972 oxygen. But this is to miss several key points. Heidelberg, Germany: Ten subsequent Winter First, as research in our project Advancing Nearly 1,000 athletes from Paralympics take place 43 countries take part. Understanding in News Information, Political • 1984: Downhill is Knowledge and Media Systems Research added to the programme 1976 illustrates, political reporting is now routinely in Innsbruck, Austria. Toronto, Canada: Two new focused on the prime minister and the leaders of Sit-skiing or mono-skiing is a impairment groups are 1980 1988 demonstration sport, to become a added in 1976 – athletes Arnhem, Holland: Athletes Seoul, the major parties. That trend may be increasing: of the public are interested in politics, educate South medal event at the Nagano 1998. who are blind or have a with cerebral palsy in the 2001 and 2005 elections, about one Perceptions themselves on where parties stand on the visual impairment and compete for the first time Korea: The • 1994: Super-G is athletes with amputations. Paralympics in every two newspaper stories that quoted issues and vote accordingly. Instead, most and Ludwig Guttmann dies added at Lillehammer, at the age of 80. take place in a politician quoted the leader of the Labour, voters use a variety of short-cuts that allow Norway. Ice sledge the same city hockey first features, one of as the Summer Conservative or Liberal Democrat parties; in the of a leader as them to make the most informed vote they can Games, and the the most popular attractions for 1984 2010 election campaign, that had increased to with the least amount of effort. Stoke Mandeville and New York: The movement gains spectators at the Winter Games. momentum. Simon roughly seven in ten of the quotes. What people think of leaders can be a Games are split over two venues, with • 2006 Wheelchair the wheelchair events taking place Jackson is the only Second, there has been a change in the reasonable summary of whether the leader, curling is added in at Stoke Mandeville amid stirring scenes. British person to trustworthy win a Paralympic nature of media coverage of leaders, with much when they became prime minister, would Turin, Italy. judo gold and • 2010: Vancouver Games 1989 greater attention to his or her personal life than enact the kinds of policies the voter favours. International Paralympic Committee Tanni Grey wins her before. And third, the shift in media coverage But the extent to which voters can make these are attended by 500 athletes (IPC) is formed on 22 September 1989 as a first medal of many. from 42 nations. has extended to leaders’ spouses, who are now matter even judgements is still dependent on the quality non-profit organisation. It aims to develop • 2014: Despite sports opportunities for all people with an much more a focus of attention than in the past. of the information they receive. That may be impairment, from the beginner to elite level. 1992 concerns over Russia’s 1996 Barcelona, Spain: So how has this affected British politics? misleading because so much of the election military interventions Atlanta, USA: The first Brit Chris Holmes wins This may depend in part on what the public more to voters coverage of leaders is itself driven by their in the nearby Crimean Peninsula, Paralympics to get mass six swimming golds and looks for in its ‘British presidents’. American personalities and those of their spouses, and by the Sochi Paralympic Winter media sponsorship, with a superstar Tanni Grey budget of $81 million. wins the first of 11 academics write of a ‘presidential prototype’ how they are doing in the polls, rather than by Games feature 500 athletes gold medals. from 45 countries in 72 medal against which possible presidents are the policies they stand for. 2004 2000 in Britain events in five sports, and Athens, Greece: Back at its birthplace, over Sydney, Australia: In excess assessed, and where the specific qualities of The partisanship of the British press also snowboarding debuts. 3,800 athletes take part. South African of one million tickets are competence and trustworthiness are especially means that most voters are subject to a partial Oscar Pistorius, the ‘bladerunner’ sold to the public and Tanni important. Our research from the last two view of their leaders. Even if voters are not (T44 sprinter category), wins his first Grey-Thompson, at her fourth gold medal at a Summer Games and Games, wins four gold medals. general elections suggests that perceptions of affected by press coverage because they are I becomes a poster boy for INVICTUS AM 2012 2008 a leader as trustworthy matter even more to aware that it is partisan, the evidence from the GAMES London: ParalympicsGB the movement. Beijing, China: Britain’s voters in Britain – perhaps as a result of issues US is that even such partisan outlets as Fox on To underline that athletes wins 120 medals. Dave Weir, highly-prepared team Jonnie Peacock, Sarah Storey wins 102 medals. like the war in Iraq and the expenses scandal. the right and MSNBC on the left undermine views with a disability have entered the mainstream, and many more become Charismatic 13-year-old But competence, at least as represented by of the candidates they oppose but do not in September 2014 The household names, as elite swimmer Ellie Simmonds sportsmen and women. 2010 wins two gold medals ‘knowing what he is talking about’, matters less Invictus Games, for wounded Tanni Grey-Thompson enhance the views of the candidates they and the hearts of a nation. servicemen and women, is created a Life Peer. than in the US, and responsiveness more. favour. Partisan press coverage of leaders may takes place in London, Sarah Storey moves from therefore contribute to negative perceptions championed by Prince Harry. 2013 swimming to PROFESSOR SUSAN BANDUCCI cycling for SHORT-CUTS TO DECISION-MAKING of leaders of all parties. And in a parliamentary Some 400 competitors take Oscar Pistorius is arrested for AND DR DANIEL STEVENS part from 13 nations, over shooting and killing his girlfriend, gold again. Should this affect people’s votes? It is easy to system voters cannot express their frustration four days, competing in nine model Reeva Steenkamp. Found Sources: paralympics.org.uk; adaptive sports in world-class www.paralympic.org ; invictusgames.org; dismiss as trivial judgements of whether one Both are at the University of Exeter. with their ‘presidents’ by voting directly against 2014 guilty of culpable homicide in venues. The Games draws its The International September 2014, he is *The Paralympic Games evolved to include leader appears more trustworthy or more Professor Banducci is Professor of Politics; them. Thus the presidentialisation of our politics name and inspiration from Paralympic sentenced to five years athletes from all disability groups, while the responsive to the concerns of ordinary people Dr Stevens is an associate professor is ultimately detrimental to British democracy. n the iconic poem by William Committee in prison and banned Stoke Mandeville games continued as a multi- Ernest Henley, Invictus. The celebrates its from athletics for sport event for wheelchair athletes, evolving to than another. But political researchers long US inspired the event with its 25th anniversary the full term. ago gave up on the notion that most members socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/politics Warrior Games in 2013.