Paralympic Games Return Home After 64 Years

Two teams of wheelchair archers and one inspirational German neurologist in 1948 provided the spark that would spread the Paralympic movement around the world.

Published

9 months ago

Categories

Sports, Olympic Sports, World, Europe

Topics

Paralympic Games, History

People

Eva Loeffler, Ludwig Guttmann, Allison Graham, Tanni Grey Thompson

Places

Rome, London, United Kingdom

Transcript

SCRIPT: The Paralympic flame is lit in Stoke Mandeville, the spiritual home of disability sport It was here in 1948 that German neurologist Ludwig Guttmann organised the first Stoke Mandeville Games -- the precursor to the Paralympics. As head of the Spinal Injuries Centre, founded after World War II to treat injured soldiers, his belief was that sport was a key part of rehabilitation. His daughter Eva remembers the '48 Games well: SOUNDBITE 1: Eva Loeffler, (woman) daughter of Ludwig Guttmann [English, 14 sec]: "The very first Games were two teams -- one from the Spinal Injury Centre at Stoke Mandeville and the other from the Star and Garter Home in Richmond and there were 14 wheelchair competitors competing against each other." 12 years later it was Guttmann again who managed to convince organisers of the Rome Olympics to allow 400 wheelchair athletes to compete at parallel Games. At Stoke Mandeville Hospital, doctors continue Guttman's pioneering work -- giving those paralysed through accident or illness a new focus for their lives: SOUNDBITE 2: Dr Allison Graham, (woman) consultant physician in spinal cord injuries at the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital [English, 25 sec]: "If we need to use arts or music or javelin throwing, we will bring that into the rehab process -- partly as I say because it makes people stronger and it gives people a sense of purpose but that is something which can follow them once they leave hospital and whether they choose to do it for past-time or whether they choose to do it for a career, that's their choice afterwards. Ewan is 13 and has been paralysed from the shoulders since he was a baby. As a lover of the sport Boccia -- a game similar to boules -- he's following the Paralympics closely. And he may well dream - many of those that have been through Stoke Mandeville/many former Stoke Mandeville patients have gone on to become great Paralympians: SOUNDBITE 3: Tanni Grey-Thompson (woman), 11-time Paralympic gold medallist [English, 17 sec]: "I know athletes who are competing now who four years ago watched from their hospital beds the Beijing Paralympics and it's important we keep telling those stories to say that 'hey, if you break your back, it's not great but it's not necessarily the end of the world." During the London Paralympic Games, few here in Stoke Mandeville will forget the legacy of Ludwig Guttmann -- a legacy that lives on, albeit in a slightly modernised form -- in the Mandeville mascot, now at the heart of the Olympic Park in east London. SHOTLIST Stoke Mandeville, England, 28 and 29 August 2012 SOURCE: AFPTV (unless otherwise stated) -GV lighting of Paralympic flame on 28 August 2012 in Stoke Mandeville Stadium -Moving shot Sally Haynes, Paralympian from Rome 1960 and three further Games, carrying the torch around Stoke Mandeville Stadium -CU statue of Ludwig Guttmann in Stoke Mandeville Stadium -WIDE the four national flames with torch relay security staff as well as Tanni Grey Thompson and Martin McElhatton, Chief Executive of WheelPower -VAR archive photographs of Stoke Mandeville Games over the years [Ludwig Guttmann, Guttmann with athletes]. CREDIT 'WHEELPOWER, STOKE MANDEVILLE' -Set up show of Eva Loeffler outside Athletes Village, 24 August, 2012 -SOUNDBITE 1: Eva Loeffler, (woman) daughter of Ludwig Guttmann [English, 14 sec] -Cutaway photos of archers - CREDIT 'WHEELPOWER, STOKE MANDEVILLE' -VAR photographs from early paralympic games - CREDIT 'WHEELPOWER, STOKE MANDEVILLE' -GV Stoke Mandeville Hospital -MS hospital sign -VAR ward in Spinal Injuries Centre -SOUNDBITE 2: Dr Allison Graham, (woman) consultant physician in spinal cord injuries at the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital [English, 25 sec]: -Cutaways of wheelchair users in the gym at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium -VAR Ewan with his family in the Spinal Injuries Centre -Set up shot of Tanni Grey-Thompson -SOUNDBITE 3: Tanni Grey-Thompson (woman), 11-time Paralympic gold medallist [English, 17 sec] -GV entrance of Stoke Mandeville Stadium -Portrait of Ludwig Guttmann -Mandeville mascot with child -GV Olympic Stadium in Olympic Park -GV Mandeville mascot in front of stadium