Timeline - Paralympics

Year

1955

"We played pretty hard!"

Kevin Cunningham talks about the skills of wheelchair basketball

1957

Basketball controversy at the 1957 Stoke Mandeville Games

1960

Going up ten stairs with a wheelchair

Gary Hooper chats about the unusual and barely accessible accommodation at the 1960 Rome Summer Paralympics

Australian athletes are helped onto a bus with a rear wheelchair hoist during the 1960 Paralympic Games in Rome. Waiting at right is Ross Sutton, Australia's first Paralympic gold medallist.

Australian Team Members boarding bus 1960 Rome Paralympics

Paralympian Bruno Moretti discussing sport as rehabilitation and ability to play multiple sports in the early Paralympics

Bruno Moretti discusses wooden wheelchairs and technical changes over time

1964

Mather-Brown takes his basketball chair to the track

A telegram from the 1964 Australian Paralympic Team head of delegation, George Bedbrook, to the family os swimmer Elizabeth Edmondson, informing them of her success at the Games and plans for the return trip to Australia. Edmondson and Bedbrook were both from Western Australia. At 14, Edmondson was the youngest Australian Paralympic gold medallist until 2012. Telegram provided by Elizabeth Edmondson from her personal scrapbook.

A telegram from Dr Bedbrook

Action during a wheelchair basketball game between two unknown teams outside the Yoyogi Indoor Stadium during the 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Wheelchair basketball Tokyo Paralympics

1966

Literally traveling ‘cattle class’

Paying attention to the pre-event briefing

1968

Jeff Simmonds is carried onto the Qantas plane by Jack McCafferty and a Qantas staff member as the 1968 Australian Paralympic Team departs Australia for the Tel Aviv Paralympic Games

Jeff Simmonds boards for Tel Aviv Paralympics

1972

A clever solution to getting athletes into buses

Pushing up a ramp easier than being carried

Getting the start just right

And then they’re off! In the 1972 wheelchair dash.

Lithgow boy makes good

1974

After a night in a warm bed, the paras are up early the next morning boarding the specially converted buses taking them to their events. The red uniformed hostesses are very much able bodied but the driver willingly gives assistance anyhow. These buses have been taken off their normal runs for games. All the seats were removed, the floors levelled and safety bars installed. They hold 16 chairs.

Buses modified to ferry the wheelchair athletes

1976

GALLERY: Amputee technology in 1976

An efficient athlete transport system is a good start

Telex calls and typewriters in the media centre

GALLERY: Wheelchair technology in 1976

1980

In 1980, there was ne’er a blade runner to be seen

Competition standard was high but the scoreboard was basic

A moment from the game between the Australian and USA in wheelchair basketball at the 1980 summer Paralympics shows the stage of evolution of basketball chairs in 1980. The USA won easily, 87-36.This image is a still from a film made by Donald Worley about Australia's participation at the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, Netherlands.

Basketball was a different game in 1980 and so was the equipment

GALLERY: The weird and the wonderful world of sport wheelchair design in 1980

"I'd take my everyday wheels off and put the racing wheels on"

Julie Russell on racing in a ‘convertible’ day chair

From the track to the dance floor – in the same chair

1984

Personal identity and accreditation card for Joe Egan

Did spectators pay extra for a track-side view?

Thin was in for racing chairs, but so was feet first

Well, a Ferrari from those days looks a bit dated also…

1988

While others get to grips with computer technology

Or back at the track, it seems the era of ‘gentlemen racers’ has returned

1992

Boss of the track – Louise Sauvage after another race in Barcelona

1996

Racing wheelchair design had taken a big leap by Atlanta

And running legs were still a work in progress

2000

Greg Ball competes in Cycling at the Sydney Summer Paralympics.

Sports benefitted from access to technology

The Australian Team prepare to return a serve during the Standing Volleyball event at the Sydney Summer Paralympics.

Prest’s leg technology interfaced with his volleyball shoes

Neil Fuller competes in the track at the Sydney Summer Paralympics.

Neil Fuller was maybe Australia’s greatest ‘blade runner’

David Hall celebrates during the Wheelchair Tennis Sydney Summer Paralympics

David Hall was at his peak in Sydney

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