The first s for the disabled were held () after Sir Ludwing Guttmann arrived in England.

A．50 years
B．21 years
C．9 years
D．4 years

About 50 years ago the idea of disabled people doing sports was never heard of. But when the annual s for the disabled were started at Stroke Mandeville, England in 1948 by Sir Ludwing Guttmann, the situation began to change. Sir Ludwing Guttmann, who had been driven to England in 1939 from Nazi Germany,had been asked by the British government to set up an injuries centre at Stroke Mandeville Hospital near London. His ideas about treating injuries included sports for the disabled.

In the first s just two teams of injured soldiers took part. The next year, 1949 ,five teams took part. From those beginnings things developed fast. Teams now come from abroad to Stroke Mandeville every year. In 1960 the first Olympics for the Disabled were held in Rome. Now, every four years the Olympic s for the Disabled are held, if possible, in the same place as the normal Olympic s, although they are organized separately. In other years s for the Disabled are still held at Stroke Mandeville. In the 1984 wheelchair Olympic s, 1604 wheelchair athletes from about 40 countries took part. Unfortunately, they were held at Stroke Mandeville and not in Los Angeles, along with the other Olympics.

The s have been a great success in promoting international friendship and understanding, and in proving that being disabled does not mean you can’ t enjoy sports. One small source of disappointment for those who organize and take part in the s, however, has been the unwillingness of the International Olympic Committee to include the disabled s at the Olympic s for the ablebodied. Perhaps a few more years are still needed to convince those fortunate enough not to be disabed that their disabled fellow athletes should not be excluded.